The saga of Councillor Yvonne Gunter and the plaque that bore her name as a “dignitary” (see yesterday’s Boston Eye) continues to rumble on. There is much interest now in investigating her claim that the borough is littered with plaques that are similarly generous to lower ranking councillors – but so far, examples are proving elusive. Independent Councillor Carol Taylor joined the war of words with an e-mail to Councillor Gunter to remind her that she does not yet fall into either category of the definition of dignitary - a pillar of society and/or holder of high office. “As the Portfolio Holder for Grounds and open Spaces, you were there to represent the council and its taxpayers and not as a sponsor, private individual or a dignitary. You did not sponsor it. You did not sanction this as a private individual … the Mayor is a representative of our Sovereign and no other name is under Her Majesty's so therefore yours should not be there.” Regarding Councillor Gunter’s refusal to enter into any further discussion on the matter, Councillor Taylor says: “… if this is your final response as a supposedly senior member of the council, we have much to be concerned about. If however you would  …  tell us which other portfolio holder is on a plaque then the matter could be settled.” Councillor Gunter did not reply.
Another interesting point raised in the debate is … which Mayor Councillor Gunter was referring to when she said that the Mayor was “happy” with the arrangements in Central Park.  Whilst Councillor Colin Brotherton was indeed the Mayor on June 2^nd when the plaque was unveiled, he was only elected on 21^st  May - less than a fortnight before, which leads some people to think that the plaque was by then a fait accompli  - and that former Mayor Mary Wright would have been the one who approved it.
Whilst Councillor Gunter did not reply to Councillor Taylor, a pithy response came instead from Council Leader Peter Bedford: “May I just point out to you one error in your e-mail. The Mayor of Boston although one of only two in the county has a title of The Worshipful. He or she does not represent the Sovereign, that is the Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire Mr Tony Worth who has that honour and is the only person in the county able to do that.”  Time for another definition. Worshipful: Feeling or showing reverence and adoration. Entitled to honour or respect. We can’t honestly say that any mayors of recent years have fallen into that category in our book!
The excuse offered by Councillor Peter Bedford regarding the sale of the Assembly Rooms is an interesting one. He is reported to have said that the cabinet took the decision whilst denying the whole council a chance to review the matter -  due to “urgency.” By an interesting coalescence of timetables, the cabinet meeting that took the decision met at 10am last Wednesday, and there was a meeting of the full council  at 6-30pm the same day. In the past, when it has suited, cabinet decisions have been carried forward for ratification without any problems. Full marks to Labour group leader Paul Kenny for declaring: “This is an important item and needs to be properly scrutinised ….  This shows that democracy is meaningless to this Conservative on Boston Borough Council … It is just a shameful way to act.”
Yet another condemnatory letter in the Boston Standard from lowly Councillor Paul Mould – who takes Boston Eye to task for criticising some councillors as “dim.” It is coupled with a challenge to the editor to run for office (not on your life, Mouldy) and to take “any IQ or MENSA test.” Councillor Mould proudly proclaims his membership of MENSA on his Linkedin internet page – along with 35 years and three months as proprietor of something called “Leading Lady Hosiery” (are you free?)  It seems to us that Councillor Mould lacks humour in his life. Our remarks about councillors were intended light-heartedly – although if push came to shove we could justify them from all that  we have seen, heard and read both inside and outside the council chamber. We thank Councillor Mould for his IQ challenge, but when we look at what MENSA has done for him, we are quite content to remain members of its sister organisation for the less clever – DENSA!
Boston BID manager Niall Armstrong remained upbeat after  yet another failed attempt to win cash from the Portas Pilots scheme. “It wouldn’t take much to see a big step change,” he told the local ‘newspapers’ “I think the key is acting as a community. If businesses and the community come together and make an effort then we can change an awful lot very quickly. If everybody works together, then everybody benefits.”   Forgive us if we’ve missed something here, but isn’t that what the BID was created to do almost four years ago? So why hasn’t it been doing it?
We hear that the embattled BID has apparently taken yet another body blow with reports that another board member -  Steve Goulder - has resigned. He was said to have cited a lack of time to devote to the BID. This means that two board members have resigned in recent weeks – and because the list on the BID website is so hopelessly out of date, it is not now possible to work out how many are left, or who they are. We understand that others are considering their position as well. Setbacks notwithstanding, the BID continues to bumble along in its own inept style. The item below was posted on the Boston Protest March Facebook page for no apparent reason – but as you can see, when the link is activated … it didn't work! 

Same old BID.

Elsewhere, local businesses seem to have seen the light of day – with the result that Sleaford's BID will cease at the end of next month. It needed 50% of its levy payers to vote for it to continue - only 46% backed it. Boston businesses, please take note for twelve months hence.

Although it technically expired at the end of last year, a petition to bring back a dog warden is still on Boston Borough Council’s website. It was started by local man Brian Robbins, who wrote: “I have noticed since the council stopped employing a dog warden an increase in dog fouling on the paths around town. Also an increase in loose dogs. By bringing back a Dog Warden the council would be helping keep our streets cleaner, remove loose dogs from our streets making them safer and helping our children health by removing dog mess. Finally, it may by the fines levied of offending owners finally make them responsible for the actions of their dogs.” Sadly, the petition received only a handful of signatures, but Mr Robbins has now taken matters further by contacting Labour group leader Councillor Paul Kenny – who signed the petition.  Mr Robbins has located the dog warden information in the council’s draft report.

He says: “As far as I can see Boston Borough Council is claiming to operate a full Dog Warden service which is of course a lie. This is supposed to be a statutory service and the council is claiming it as 100%.” Sharp-eyed Mr Robbins also remarks: “I notice that  the council is still paying for the Princess Royal Sports Arena and has increased its payments to the Lincolnshire Sports Partnership from £70,000 last year to god knows what this year as the LSP now runs the PRSA.” Is it really almost a year since Council Leader Peter Bedford told electors: “We also have the thorny issue of the Princess Royal Sports Arena to sort out, but it will take longer to resolve than some of the other issues.” He wasn’t kidding, was he?

Despite a long list of complaints about parking confusion in the Market Place, no one in authority seems prepared to do anything about it. This e-mail came from a reader: “Just a small observation regarding the apparently uncontrolled free for all fiasco that somehow now passes as parking in our former Market Place. I came out of the Nationwide Building Society at 11 o’clock on Monday morning, and as I crossed the Market Place, I saw to my great amazement that quite a row of cars had actually parked right across the designated central roadway, rendering it closed at that point. Other vehicles were meandering about aimlessly in all directions and several others were seemingly abandoned with no pretence whatsoever to being parked correctly. I can only assume that Baldrick is now running the Market Place, as the situation could only be the result of one of his cunning plans.” Our reader is right. As we have previously pointed out, there are a lot of things that can be done to clarify things for motorists – it just seems that no-one is bothered.
If you think Boston gets a raw deal from Lincolnshire County Council, it appears that this could well get worse. The new chairman of East Midlands Councils is County Council Leader Councillor Martin Hill, who has said that his first priority is to help revive the region's economy. Mr Hill said: "I am very much looking forward to working to support local authorities in the region to deliver better services for communities. In particular, I want to reach out to the cities, as drivers of economic growth, and work harder to re-engage the districts as our grass-roots champions of localism.” We read that as meaning more for Lincoln and a further demotion for district councils like Boston.
We would like to think that our local “newspapers” play a role in local life that goes beyond mere reporting. This is particularly important when it comes to showing disapproval of people who break the law. This week’s Boston Standard reports the case of three young Boston men who stole alcohol from ASDA. The furthest that a solicitor went in mitigation was to call the offence “not sophisticated.”  But the Standard decided to trivialise it by dismissing it as a drink fuelled “caper” - not a word that appears to have been used in court. The dictionary calls a caper “a frivolous escapade or prank.” No doubt the Standard has in previous years defined the crime of stealing a car, driving it around at high speed, and possibly crashing it – with or without more serious consequences - as “joyriding.”
And still with the Standard, we wonder whether the hacks who work there are a little too trusting. We say this after the following report appeared in their website:  “A helicopter spotted flying over Boston and landing in the town was on a ‘routine visit’ according to police. A spokesman confirmed the craft, which landed on Robin Hoods Walk at 9.10pm last night (Tuesday), was a Chinook, which had come from RAF Odiham in Hampshire and was on a routine visit to Boston.” That’s ok then. We’ve lived here for donkey’s years, and know others who’ve notched up even more – and it’s the first time we have heard of such a “routine” visit – even though the word implies a regular occurrence. Perhaps the Standard should become a little more inquisitive.

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