The Secretary of State for health has decided to send Lincolnshire Health Scrutiny Committee's EMAS referral to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) for an initial assessment.
The committee has long had concerns over the performance of the East Midlands Ambulance Service, most notably their response times.
There are two possible outcomes from an IRP initial assessment - either a recommendation that a full review is undertaken, or a recommendation that a full review is not needed but should be resolved locally.
Councillor Christine Talbot, chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire, said: "The committee have had concerns over the performance of EMAS for a long time, and this referral was specifically made as we didn't feel they had carried out adequate consultation on their 'Being the Best' proposals.
"EMAS have been fined for the third year running for failing to meet response times and we have no confidence that closing ambulance stations will improve this situation in Lincolnshire.
"Although it has taken the Secretary of State eight weeks to respond, I am pleased that the IRP will now be looking into our concerns and are carrying out an initial assessment."
The IRP will submit their initial assessment advice on this referral to the Secretary of State by June 28.
