Our Friday miscellany

of the week's

news and events

Boston MP and ministerial aide Mark Simmonds has apologised for failing to make clear an interest when speaking in favour of the NHS shake-up. Mr Simmonds told MPs he wanted to apologise for inadvertently failing to declare his interest when speaking in the debates on the Health and Social Care Bill in January and March last year. So, what trivial little thing had slipped his mind? Although he had correctly declared it in the register of interests, he did not mention that he is paid £50,000 a year - £12,500 per quarter for 10 hours work a month - as a strategic adviser to Circle Healthcare – which recently became the first private firm to run an NHS hospital, Hitchingbrooke Hospital, Cambridgeshire.
Interestingly, the news coincided with fears being expressed by Boston Labour councillors that Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital might be next to be run by Circle. Their website quotes public sector union UNISON’s concerns about a private company taking over and running Hinchingbrooke, warning that if it fails, the public sector – and ultimately the taxpayer – will have to come to the rescue,  or patients and the local community will suffer. The website says: “Boston Labour councillors have similar concerns to UNISON regarding private companies running NHS hospitals. We are concerned that Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital might be next on the ‘hit’ list and we are also concerned about the growing number of prominent conservative MPs who are receiving lucrative fees from Circle Healthcare. So we ask a simple question – is it patient care or the lucrative fees they receive that mostly influence their decisions? We strongly believe that the Pilgrim Hospital should stay as an NHS hospital and we will be urging people in Boston to support us.”
Among the broken promises made by the Conservatives in the run up to and aftermath of last year’s local elections, there is one that it is, perhaps, best not to have materialised. This was the idea of installing cameras in the Boston Borough Council chamber, so that we could watch council meetings via the internet. Such a facility already exists at County Hall in Lincoln – and every three months Boston Eye tunes  in to see what our local councillors have to say. Three meetings ago technical problems meant that we couldn’t hear a thing. Two meetings ago, the screen regularly went blank and the coverage crashed so that we couldn't see a thing – and again there was trouble with the sound. Having taken this up with the powers that be, we hoped for an improved webcast last week – but no. The message Webcast has finished flashed up no fewer than 14 times, even through the meeting was still underway, and much of it was lost to viewers.

Normally a recording appears by Monday afternoon – but this week it took until Tuesday for it to materialise, and when it did a time lag meant that the speakers do not appear where the agenda indicates. Let’s remember that this quarterly fiasco is produced by a county council that keeps banging on about the importance of the internet. A phrase involving the words booze-ups and breweries springs to mind.
However, despite these trials and tribulations, we can report that two of our seven County Councillors made themselves heard.
Fresh from his victory over the issue of relocating fast rescue boats back in Boston, Lincolnshire’s Independent county councillor for Boston West, Ramonde Newell, turned to flooding issues.He reminded members of the recent announcement by the Association of British Insurers that Boston and Skegness had the most homes at significant risk of flooding in England and Wales. The ABI has also warned that a deal with the government under which householders can get insurance in risk areas will expire next year. Councillor Newell asked the council leader Martin Hill: “Given the present and future dire economic situation, what is Lincolnshire County Council planning to do to help those requiring insurance against flooding, and to keep the cost down - and will you ensure that all householders in these areas are aware of those measures? Councillor Hill replied that he and his deputy Councillor Eddie Poll recently met the Environment Agency when the issue was extensively discussed. “We have agreed to lobby government to ask them to sort this issue out -  because you are right, it is quite a serious issue that needs resolving, and is as much an issue for the government as anybody else. But I can assure you that we will do all we can locally to raise those issues, because 40% of properties affected by this measure are in Lincolnshire - so it’s a major issue for us. We take it as a number one priority and we will keep you updated as to progress.” We hope that he means it – as this is an issue that currently blights our area and its chances of advancement.
Meanwhile, Conservative County Councillor for Boston East, Mike Gilbert, spoke in support of the council’s budget, and congratulated the finance portfolio holder. “I commented that as a council we need to play our part in reducing the national deficit, therefore we needed sound finances locally,” he said. “The opposition groups had suggested that we reduce the size of the reserves, but I spoke against this. As a country we have to reduce the deficit, and that the challenge is that reducing the deficit was really reducing the rate at which the country gets into debt rather than reducing the debt itself; therefore we need to maintain reserves because we can't be sure of the challenges ahead of us as a county.”
Now you have it, now you don’t. Last week we speculated on the possibility that a new police building might be going up  in our part of the world after the private security firm G4S won a £200 million contract with Lincolnshire Police. Since then, there have been hints that the new building (an artist's impression of which appears below) might be located in Sutterton.

But, guess what? Surprise, surprise, we hear that the force's preferred site for the development would be at its existing headquarters in Nettleham, north of Lincoln. The 30-cell station, based on a hub-and-spoke design, will house up to 120 staff – and will obviously create many new jobs. A police spokesman said: “"The next step is that G4S and ourselves will be preparing plans to go to West Lindsey District Council.” Boston losing out to Lincoln? Phew! What a rare occurrence!
Good news from Boston Borough Council’s newest blogger, Independent Councillor  Carol Taylor, who reports progress on improving Wormgate. She tells readers: “The problems with traffic through Wormgate have been well documented, causing destruction and damage to the shop fronts. There is, however, hope on the horizon. Friends of Wormgate, led by Jo Christmas, owner of Bizzaro's, has worked tirelessly to promote this area  - and their hard work is about to reap rewards. Boston Borough Council and Lincolnshire County Council are working closely with the friends to establish a better future for Wormgate and the proposal of a barrier on Fountain Lane is now moving forward to the consultation phase. This barrier will stop traffic using it as through road instead of an access road, which it is supposed to be. This proposed barrier will improve the lives of the business owners and residents by making it a safer and better shopping experience for the public. Although there are not many shops to browse at the moment, with the proposed barrier and improved pedestrian experience it is hoped that more small shops and businesses will be encouraged by these plans and move in to Wormgate.” This is excellent news, as we have always regarded Wormgate as having tremendous potential both a local base for the niche shops  that the town so desperately needs and  as a visitor attraction . It’s also heartening to see that although Boston BID threatened to put its oar in, no mention is made of it. Councillor Taylor’s blog will be updated weekly, and you can find it at http://councillorcaroltaylor.blogspot.com/ . Other councillors who "blog" please note. Many of you have not posted a word for months. If you’ve lost interest, why not admit and remove your pages from the internet.
We were rather surprised to find no mention at all about the furore over the way Boston’s Chief Executive Richard Harbord is paid in this week’s Boston Target, and would be fascinated to know the reason for the decision. Meanwhile, the Boston Standard lets Council leader Peter Bedford get away with the defence that the pay deal is “a proper and routine arrangement” which is “common” at other councils. It never ceases to amuse us that Councillor Bedford seems to think that if he treats taxpayers as idiots they will respond accordingly. If this arrangement is so  commonplace, then why is such a fuss being made about similar arrangements elsewhere in the country? Meanwhile, a sharp-eye reader notes that Mr Harbord's director information available online shows that he was born in April 1946 - making him 65 when his contract was renewed. He wonders whether this would have had any impact on the council's need to have paid NI or pension contributions had he been employed on a normal contract – the absence of which is one of the big benefits cited by Councillor Bedford.
We wonder whether the fact that Boston no longer heads the list for the fattest town in Britain is seen as something of a challenge by our local “newspapers.” This week’s Boston Target is offering a voucher to get a free jam doughnut or iced finger with any fresh pasty bought at Curtis bakers and butchers. What a combination! Not to be outdone, the Boston Standard is offering free chips with any purchase from Eagle’s fish and chip shop. What next? A free Lincolnshire potato couch from Cammacks to loaf around on all day?
It raised a smile when we read a quote by  Boston Town football club chairman Mick Vines about the booking of 'X' Factor winner Matt Cardle to headline a concert at the club’s ground in May. “There hasn’t been a music act as big as this here since the glory days of the Gliderdrome,” he is reported as saying. Of course there hasn’t. Over the years the Glider welcomed such pop superstars as Stevie Wonder, T Rex, Billy Fury, the Walker Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, and Elton John. Forgive us if we ask “Matt who ..?
Another smile wrinkled our withered old cheeks when we read a report that  Boston Borough Council claimed  that it spotted the potential benefits to be had by tapping into Mary Portas’s expertise long before she was asked to review the nation’s high streets  - by inviting her to visit Boston last June. Cabinet member for Leisure and Cemeteries, Councillor Yvonne Gunter, is quoted as saying: “I asked her to come to Boston to give her views on retailing. I wanted her to suggest ways in which we could better link up the shopping areas. I outlined some of the things we were doing … and she replied to me to say she was delighted to hear of some of the efforts being made. I had no inkling that she was looking at these things from a national perspective. It just goes to show that Boston was ahead of the game.” It does nothing of the kind – except to demonstrate how easy it is to cram five personal pronouns into just 85 words. All it shows is that a council attempt to create a sound bite and a photo opportunity was politely declined. And aside from the fact that any invitation might perhaps more appropriately have come from another portfolio holder, history tells us that Mary Portas was commissioned by Prime Minister David Cameron to lead an independent review into the Future of the High Street in May last year – before the council’s invitation was issued. –  which just goes to show how easily a lack of inkling can more likely be due to not reading the papers – and that instead of being ahead of the game,  the council had apparently failed to realise that it had started!
For a second week, the Boston Standard’s Pages from the Past feature has produced a chuckle. Forty years ago, it reminds us, we were in the grip of the miners’ strike, which it claims apparently prompted some locals to cash in by selling their “old oil lamps.”

 please click on the picture to enlarge it

We imagine that reporters are so young these days that they will never have seen a Valor paraffin heater – one of which is pictured on the left, which were commonplace in the days before central heating. We have to tell the Standard that they would not have produced much light – unless they got knocked over and started a fire!

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Our former blog is archived at: http://bostoneyelincolnshire.blogspot.com