Enter awards is a fantastic way to celebrate your achievements, raise your profile, and attract new opportunities. Whether you’re looking to highlight innovation, customer service or community impact, they’re great platforms to shine.

Lincolnshire Business Awards – celebrating excellence across the county. Enter by January 19 or explore sponsorship to align your brand with business success.

Sleaford Town Awards – recognising individuals, groups, or organisations making a difference in Sleaford. Nominations close January 31.

Small Business Growth Awards – showcase your growth nationally and inspire others. Applications close February 9.

The Small Awards – celebrating small businesses nationwide. Applications close February 28.

FSB is developing the 2026–2029 Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) to ensure training and workforce development meet employer needs.

The input from businesses is vital to create a skills system that supports growth across all sectors. Engagement begins with sector-specific focus groups in January and February, covering advanced manufacturing, energy, visitor economy, health and social care, defence, agri-tech, construction, professional services, logistics, and digital technologies.

Employer insights drive changes that strengthen recruitment pipelines and boost regional competitiveness.

Get involved: Book your place at an upcoming focus group.

Enjoy Free Saturday parking in Sleaford in all North Kesteven District Council-owned car parks throughout December, starting with Small Business Saturday on December 7 and continuing on December 13, 20 and 27 – no ticket needed. This does not include Eastgate car park, which is owned and operated by Sleaford Town Council, where the usual free one hour will remain in place.

This initiative aims to give a boost local to businesses by encouraging residents and visitors to shop and spend in the town centre during the festive season.

Visit the Council’s website for more information.

The STEP Fusion protype powerplant at West Burton will be delivered by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd (UKIFS) and offers a substantial, wide and varied range of opportunities for local companies.

To make these opportunities accessible, UKIFS has launched a new procurement portal designed to reduce barriers for SMEs. This platform ensures a transparent, streamlined process and attracts a diverse pool of partners to support their mission.

Find out more and access the procurement portal here.

North Kesteven District Council has been allocated nearly £4.2 million through two rounds of UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), supporting initiatives up to March 2026.

Watch this video to see just a few of the highlights.

Of this, just under £1 million is dedicated to the current financial year, 2025/26. This funding is enabling continued investment in our communities and places, supporting local businesses, and helping people to develop valuable skills.

Read the full story of the mid-year progress for 2025/26.

As part of its plans for devolution, the government has launched a programme of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) aimed at simplifying and improving local council services.

As part of this, the government is planning to replace all two-tier systems with new unitary councils. Visit the Council’s dedicated LGR webpage for more information.

We’re running a short survey to hear from residents and businesses about what matters most to them — both in their local area and in how their local council serves them, focusing on priorities that will help shape the future of local councils.

❓What matters most to you as a business or resident?
❓How important is it that your council is local to your area?

Take the short survey

The AI Skills Hub empowers organisation to responsibly harness the power of AI.

Use the AI Skills Mapping Tool to identify your strengths and weakness with AI use, followed by actionable recommendations.

Find out more.

Business Lincolnshire are partnering with UK Government’s Business Growth Service to help improve the experiences businesses receive when accessing support.

The Business Growth Service will make it easier to find and access the advice and support businesses need with the Growth Hubs continuing to play a key role in providing local support in England, complementing existing business support from the UK Government and wider partners. Businesses will be able to access relevant support to help them start, grow and succeed including:

• Free, expert advice tailored to your business needs
• Local support delivered by our experienced team
• More connections to wider UK Government resources and opportunities

As your local Growth Hub, they’ll continue to provide personalised support while helping you navigate the full range of help available from partners, including the UK Government through the Business Growth Service.

You can check out the new website from the UK Government, Business.gov.uk – Find the right support for your business which gives you easy access to trusted information, expertise and services.

Clean-tech company Clean Planet Energy has chosen Sleaford Moor Enterprise Park as the location for its second-only ecoPlant in the UK.

Pending planning approval, the proposed facility would bring 50–70 new green jobs to the area, support around 100 jobs during construction and process up to 25,000 tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastic annually, supplied from waste processing companies by contract.

Sleaford Moor Enterprise Park was selected by Clean Planet Energy for reasons including the site’s access to industrial infrastructure and its aim to lead on local sustainability and economic growth goals, in line with the Council’s priorities.

North Kesteven District Council will continue working closely with the company to support the next stages of development.

See the full story for more.

Heckington Fen Solar Park are hosting an event to connect with and engage the local supply chain, as they look to collaborate with a range of suppliers.

Do you fall into any of the categories below?

• Local accommodation provider
• Plant hire
• Groundworks
• Caterers, offsite and onsite
• Fencers
• Concrete and aggregate
• Landscaping
• Security
• Construction Labour
• LV electrical works

If so, go along on Thursday 17 July from 12.30pm to 6.30pm at Swineshead Village Hall. If you’re unable to attend but still interested in collaborating, you can email the team at [email protected] and register your interest.

Find out more about the project.