No city council elections in 2026
Elections for city councillors are likely to be postponed in 2026 due to the Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme for Greater Lincolnshire.
City of Lincoln Council will formally ask government to postpone elections scheduled for May in which members of a third of the seats in its 11 wards would have been chosen by voters at a cost of around £170,000.
The authority is currently in its transitional, due diligence phase, ahead of Government’s decision on how LGR will be structured in the region.
Reorganisation could involve restructuring council boundaries and responsibilities, replacing the current two-tier systems with fewer, larger unitary authorities that deliver all council services. The city's own proposal is for a large footprint for Lincoln and a separate authority for the rest of the county.
Avoiding the financial and time cost of the election will help the council to maintain services while working towards delivering LGR and for the Lincoln body to freeze council tax for the 2026/27 financial year (see separate story on Hello Lincoln).
Cllr Naomi Tweddle, Leader said: “City of Lincoln Council is the only authority in Lincolnshire scheduled to hold elections this year.
"Delivering Local Government Reorganisation to a high standard requires councils like ours to have the time and capacity to complete the vital preparation this process demands.
“We are committed to ensuring that this reorganisation delivers the best outcomes for our residents. Implementing a once-in-a-generation transformation of this scale requires extensive work, planning and coordination to ensure it is delivered successfully. City of Lincoln Council is a multi-million-pound organisation and, to deliver Local Government Reorganisation effectively, it will be merged with other authorities that are equally complex and financially significant.
There have been objections to postponing the elections most notably from Lincolnshire County Council Leader Cllr Sean Matthews of Reform who took to facebook to accuse the city council of being dictators.
“It looks like Labour-run Lincoln city council is about to cancel the elections in May. 11 seats are up for election, a third of the council. There is absolutely no legitimate reason to cancel these elections. It is only dictators that cancel elections.”
Cllr Tweddle added: “Holding a local election is a major undertaking, requiring significant staff resources and costing more than £170,000. We believe this money would be better spent supporting the services our residents rely on and enabling us to freeze council tax.
"With the cost of living continuing to put real pressure on households, we have an opportunity to ease that burden while ensuring reorganisation is delivered properly, and we believe that’s the right thing to do.
"In December, Government wrote to us with a straightforward, important and relevant question. We will be providing them with a responsible and evidence-based response requesting our elections be postponed, releasing capacity to deliver this transformative reorganisation. Government will then confirm its final decision over the coming weeks.”