Our Friday miscellany of  the week's news and events

We hear that the Labour group on Boston Borough Council has asked for the decision to charge disabled drivers to parking be “called in” for further discussion. The result of such reviews is usually a foregone conclusion, but we wish Labour luck in their endeavours. Interestingly a warning bell that they have already sounded is the cost faced by Lincoln City Council after charges were brought in and some disabled motorists complained that they couldn’t use the existing parking meters. It cost almost £200,000 to replace them with more accessible meters -  and a similar bill in Boston would wipe out years’ worth of “profits.” However, the Tories seem determined top make Blue Badge holders pay – and perhaps the whole thing may well end up in court, as Labour has named two firms of lawyers who specialise in no-win no-fee claims against organisations which discriminate the disabled.  Successful claims are normally settled between £2,000 and £3,000.
Still with Labour, their blog gives details of a YouGov survey which shows that 79%  of voters in the East Midlands cannot name any of their local councillors and are dissatisfied with their work. Whilst this is bad news, it comes as no surprise. Such is the complacency of the Boston Borough Council Conservative group that some of them have hardly uttered a word in the past year, and  if they have to vote, they do as they are told.  It’s easy to see why local Tories will not support Labour’s call for all councillors to provide an annual report, to show what they had done or achieved each year, and which could be published on the council’s website.
Interestingly, the news came in the same week as a letter in the Boston Target lamenting the absence of Boston Borough Councillors at the town’s Central Panel meetings. “The police seem committed to this panel and their engagement is vital in listening to and acting on many of the issues raised said the writer. "However, the same cannot be said for Boston Borough councillors. It is a constant source of disappointment that many councillors although invited, regularly fail to attend. Their lack of engagement … denies residents a chance to air their views to their elected representatives, and more importantly means councillors do not take part in what should be a constructive and proactive consultation with residents and the police that should lead to improvements in our community. I strongly urge our councillors to respond to invitations to attend … and do what they are elected to do, which is listening and acting upon concerns raised by their electorate.”

Boston again came to the rescue of our local BBC programme makers with an Inside Out special on Wednesday night about the drought – fronted by TV’s most irritating weatherman, Paul Hudson.  In a section of the programme concerning water waste, he told us: “Some customers say the (drought) restrictions are just too tough – especially when water leakage remains such a big problem … millions of gallons of our water leaks away every year.”  Then the following piece of video appeared …

Hudson’s commentary continued: “This footage was shot in Boston before drought restrictions were put in place and it shows that the water companies still have a long way to go.” To go and do what? As was clearly explained at the time, the Market Place flood occurred after a vehicle belonging to contractor clipped a cast iron cover which hit a main valve and caused it to burst.  It’s scarcely what you would call “leakage.”  Fifty years ago, one of my first editors jokingly advised: “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” It’s interesting that BBC North still aspires to values such as these even when the truth is completely different – helped we note by the Boston Standard, which likes us to panic whenever possible …  remember their enthusiasm over a non-existent petrol supply problem? Even the drips at BBC Leeds should have realised that their pictures in no way resembled what is generally understood to be  “a leaky pipe.”
News that drivers using Boston Market Place are ignoring the designated parking areas came as no surprise. Apparently, the heritage friendly street markings in lighter coloured stones are hard to spot when wet. So guess what?  White lines will now be painted on the fancy new setts to define them more clearly. We warned of something like this from the outset, and hope that it will not become the thin end of a wedge that will see the area slathered in lines and labels as before. But what truly staggers us it that with all their years of experience, neither Lincolnshire County Council nor the developers apparently realised that such a thing could happen.
We note the forthcoming celebrations to mark the re-opening of the Market Place when the traders return to their original spot after the departure of the May Fair.  Among those taking part in a weekend medieval fair are the highly popular Knights of Skirbeck who reconstruct and re-enact life, chiefly during the reign of Henrys  IV to VI, between 1399 and 1461. We wonder if anyone has told them that their historic name is set to vanish from the list of Boston Borough Council wards under boundary reorganisation.  Ought we expect to hear the stealthy rustle of swords in scabbards should anyone dare to suggest that they change their name!
Another aspect of the celebrations will be a showing of the “best finds” from the Boston Big Dig – an archaeological excavation in the Market Place staged in July and August last year. They include a wooden flea comb (right)and a discarded dagger scabbard.  Hmmm.
It was with little surprise that we read the reports of last week’s immigration Task and Finish group with local educationalists, having already predicted that they would follow the political line and insist that everything in the school garden was rosy. “No issues with migrant pupils,” fluted the Boston Standard’s headline, telling us that “School leaders have said the ‘influx’  (why was this put in italics?) of foreign national pupils has not caused any significant issues for education in the town” – although there had been issues when people first began arriving from overseas in big numbers. It sounds as though there were more than merely issues five or six years ago. According the national newspapers at the time, one headmaster said his school was “struggling” to cope with the new arrivals. "We were full … yet within the first few days of term literally 30 families arrived at the door,” he said. “All the schools were full, not only us, but it didn't alter the fact that these children needed to be in a school ... It has come to just about saturation point for us physically to be able to cope … You can read the piece in full by clicking here
Meanwhile we hear that local MP Mark Simmonds will attend the Task and Finish meeting on 8^th June.  The group usual meets mid-week at 6-30pm – but Mr Simmonds doesn’t do weekdays, nor evenings, it seems - as the session will be a Friday afternoon affair  ...  which is, of course,  when MPs deign to touch base with the areas they represent and rib shoulders with the riffraff. We wonder if he will be rehearsing  his responses after his claim in the same 2006 newspaper article mentioned above that  the  Labour Government “had lost control over immigration and had no idea who is here or where they are” and  that “the funding for local services does not reflect the number of people who are living in the area." Plus ca change … etc etc.  Meanwhile, members of the Boston Protest March Facebook group are booking days off  to attend the meeting,  and assuming that “this is our chance to make feelings known and hold him accountable for his actions.”  We advise them not to hold their breath.
It seems that that having fun is a load of old frolics as far as Boston Borough Council is concerned. According to the Boston Standard "crime" news:  “Council bosses have warned that they will not tolerate anti-social behaviour when the May Fair is in town …”   The borough’s principal community safety officer says: “We don’t want to be spoilsports, but we will do all we can to ensure the May Fair remains an event all ages can enjoy. No one, especially families with young children, should be intimidated, or fearful, of bad behaviour, especially at a fun event such as this.” As far as we remember, there have never been serious problems at the fair. Usually people go along and have a good time without being intimidated in advance by fearful messages from Boston Borough Council - which appears to have anti-social behaviour on its noddle. This smacks more of a publicity opportunity than anything else. And in any case, should the police not be doing the job that the borough is apparently usurping?
It’s been a busy old week for local job hunters, with a closing date for several vacancies at Boston Borough Council. They included a housing strategy and enabling officer paying between £22,221 and  £27,849, an  economic development officer and a performance and risk officer on a two year fixed term contract a at the same rate, a payroll officer (£15,725 to £19,126) and a “people services administrator” (£13,189 to £16,054.)  Some of these job titles are baffling – and we wonder how essential they really are. What exactly does “a motivated, organised individual to manage and deliver the council's performance management framework and risk strategy” do? And if our Economic Development team “delivers economic development activities and projects as well as providing first line business support to businesses within Boston Borough” why do we never hear of its achievements?  But the job which caught our eye was one seeking an “enthusiastic” administration “apprentice” on a year’s contract – to work in the Communications Unit, People Services, Electoral Services and Democratic Services.  Any applicant will need to be enthusiastic – as the borough is taking the apprentice specification literally,  offering a “salary” of £95 a week … a pathetic £2.71 an hour. To avoid looking too miserly, the rate is a full eleven pence an hour above the legal minimum for apprentices under 19, or 19 or over in the first year of their apprenticeship. In other vacancies, a casual leisure attendant at the Moulder Leisure Complex can command £8.1507 an hour, and even a Casual Receptionist working “as and when required” is worth £6.2951 - who works out these ridiculous fractions? Surely, with so many ill-defined but highly paid jobs on the market, the council could have shuffled the numbers around and  added a few quid to stump up a wage that would give its recipient some small sense of pride rather than feel like some sort of lackey?
After the gloom accompanying this week’s anniversary of the elections which swept the dilatories into power, we wondered whether the anniversary should be marked by a rebranding exercise, to make our leaders more user friendly. In the way that BoJo makes Boris Johnson sound much nicer and SamCam more than a prime ministerial spouse, we have come up with a new name for Boston Borough Council ...

BoBoCo has a certain ring to it, you must agree, and we thought that our Cabinet members might consider following suit. How much more genial would the appellations PeBe,  MiBro, RasiMcgee,  MiGil, Wyvegun,  DeRic (hardly a change needed ...)  and Stewo sound? Or are they perhaps too redolent of Trumpton’s  Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub?

That’s it for this week.  Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend. We’ll be back on Tuesday.

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