At the beginning of the week, members of the Boston Disability Forum met Boston Borough Council for a third time to voice objections to plans to charge Blue Badge Holders to use the town’s car parks.
Despite the two previous meetings, this one is required to help the council “"fully understand” their objections.
We don’t know how much help the councillors need – but feel that it will not be a case of third time lucky for the group.
So that the council has no doubt as to their position, the group has also written  a letter, listing some of the physical things that disabled people may not be able to do – aside from possibly not being able to afford to pay.
The letter adds that disabled people may take much longer to shop or do business in the town, or conversely have to cut their trip short due to feeling unwell, stressed, anxious, or through problems of mental and/or physical fatigue.
It concludes: “Please do not add stress and pressure to the lives of the disabled community by introducing payment schemes and charges. They rely and trust you to provide them with an accessible town.”
The latter may be true, but the writing on the wall suggests the borough’s disabled and their champions will be disappointed.
Campaigners initially took heart when an announcement was made that the council had called a special meeting on 28^th  June to discuss their objections and decide whether or not to introduce the proposed Amendment Order in its current format. 
However – thanks to a constitution apparently designed to give democracy the heave-ho – because it is a special meeting there will be only one agenda item, and questions from councillors or the public will not be allowed.
Members of the disability forum will be marking this enforced silence with one of their own …
“We will be holding a silent protest to object to the changes, and to object to the fact there is a public meeting where the public are invited to attend but they are not allowed to speak,” said Boston Disability Forum Secretary, Becky Wood.
“The silent and peaceful protest will take place on 28^th June from 5.45pm until 6.15pm outside the Municipal Buildings.
“Banners will be provided.”
The forum has also launched a campaign on Petition Online  -  a national website.
The appeal reads:

Please sign our petition in protest against the ignorant Boston Tory Council who are introducing disabled parking charges, even though the machines are not disabled accessible. Their answer to this is to introduce complicated payment schemes for the disabled and plan not to make all the meters accessible until 2017!  They are only introducing these charges to make up a budget shortfall of £200,000. Do you think it is ethical to hit the disabled community of the town to make this up? Do you think an able-bodied person in a wheelchair pretending to be disabled to test access of parking meters is disturbing? Do you think disabled people being compared to able-bodied people is equality? If you think not, sign the petition.

 The reference to an able-bodied officer in a wheelchair has become a matter of contention.

Although it was apparently confirmed – and heard by a number of people – at a recent meeting, it would now appear that they were all mistaken!
Independent Councillor Carol Taylor – who with the Labour opposition demanded that the decision should be called in for re-evaluation – reported on her blog last week that an email from Chief Executive Richard Harbord declared that the tale of the able-bodied person posing as a disabled person by sitting in a wheelchair was not true.
“I was ready with a huge apology to the person concerned,” she wrote, “and when I contacted a few of my colleagues they were adamant that the person involved had admitted to it and that they would swear to this in a court of law. “I also don't understand why at the call-in, the person did not deny this allegation.”
It was Winston Churchill who famously said: “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
Perhaps this is what they have in mind at Worst Street as well.
And let us not forget ... once charges for disabled parking are railroaded through, the only people in Boston who will not have to pay to park will be the staff and members of Boston Borough Council - a "freebie" which costs the taxpayers more than £100,000 a year.

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

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

Protest march threat is back because of language problems 

- the great and the good don't understand the voice of the people!

It’s seven months since the march planned to protest at the effects of high levels of immigration on Boston was postponed – but according to reports at the weekend, it may well be back on the agenda once again.

Ironically, the announcement came after the grandly-named Social Impact of Population Change on Boston - Task and Finish Group heard from local MP Mark Simmonds.
As we have previously observed, both the date and the time of the meeting were arranged to Mr Simmonds’s convenience – and it has also emerged that an agenda was set limiting the duration of the session and the time allocated for questions from councillors and the public.
Mr Simmonds reportedly called the immigration issue “complicated” and requiring “forensic analysis.”
Well done, that man.
He called for a “zero tolerance” approach to anti-social behaviour, defended his record as a constituency MP, and challenged the view that immigration had been completely negative – saying that he thought most people’s views were broadly in line with his.
Overall, the meeting and the MP’s performance was given null points by protest group members who attended, as well as on the group’s Facebook page.

Afterwards, the man who started the protest
march campaign – Dean Everitt – was quoted by the BBC as saying: "I think there's been a lot of waffle going on and not a lot of straight answers.

"We are seriously reconsidering putting the march back on."

Mr Everitt was reported to be planning  a public meeting within the next few weeks so he and other campaigners can vote on whether to hold a march.
Mr Simmonds chipped in: "I very much hope that the march won't take place.
"Inevitably it would suck in people who I don't want to see in Boston.
"As happened before there would clearly be an anti-march protest from the anti-fascist league and that is not the sort of thing we want to see in a nice Lincolnshire market town like Boston."
Those closing words suggest what many already believe - that Mr Simmonds has lost touch with life in Boston.
The town has not been a nice place for some time now – although you won't be told that if you ask the great and the good of the borough.
One frustration that is very strongly felt by the protest march contingent is the conflict between their experiences and the “official” version.
Over the last few months, the task and finish group has heard the police minimise public concerns, unions deny that migrants are taking jobs from local people, educationalists saying that multi-national classes do not cause difficulties, and the farming industry branding locals as work-shy and lazy.
The incidents they raise on their social network, however, tell a different story.
Having said that, one point made by Mr Simmonds  – which has quickly proved to be correct –  is that a march will bring outsiders to the town.

click to enlarge picture

Already, Casuals United – a self-styled “blog for peaceful hooligans” (see picture on the left) has declared “Boston march may be back on – If nobodies (sic) listening, MARCH we will support you.”
The core of  the problem seems to us to be that those involved in this debate are looking at it from different viewpoints.
The protest march contingent has frequently pointed out that it wants to highlight the problems caused by the large and rapid influx of migrant families into Boston – with the concomitant impact on services such as policing, education, and employment.  It wants an end to the free-for-all entry in such numbers.
The authorities, however, see it almost entirely a matter of finance – saying that establishsing the real population of the borough would force the government to pour in more funds to improve services and ease the pressures.
However, they fail to see the argument that enhancing local facilities and building more houses simply kick starts the cycle once again.
The Task and Finish Group has just two more sessions to go – if the council’s meetings and agenda calendar is correct.
On 21^st June, officers from “various public services” will be questioned, whilst the final meeting on the 27^th has yet to confirm its "guest list."
No minutes of any of these meetings have appeared - so it has not been possible to tell how rigorous the sessions were.
But from what we have read in the local “newspapers” it would appear that - by and large - apparent differences between the "official" view and that of the public have gone unchallenged.
By "the public" we mean the man and woman in the street who have to put up with anti-social behaviour; the worker and his wife who lose their jobs after being priced out of the market. As parents, they see their children being bussed to schools miles away from a nearer and better choice for their child's development.
Yet time and again they have been told that they are wrong – which not only patronises them but effectively accuses them of lying.
If the Task and Finish Group hopes to take some credit from what will otherwise be a complete waste of time, it might consider recalling some earlier “witnesses” to see if they might depart from the politically correct line that most of them have been toeing.

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

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

Be thankful that a disaster like this only occurs once in sixty years!

 

 

From the outset, it was inconceivable that – despite all the national goodwill towards the Queen on her Diamond Jubilee – Boston Borough Council could do anything other than cock the celebrations up.
Calls for the town to be bedecked in red, white and blue resulted in a tawdry monochrome affair.
Businesses were heard lamenting the non-arrival of the £45 floral hanging baskets ordered from Boston Business “Improvement” District.
Even Boston Borough Council’s website – that bastion of gung-ho which repeatedly makes mountains out of mouse holes – was forced to concede that only “hundreds” turned out to “enjoy” Boston's “Big” Picnic in the Park, which cost we taxpayers £5,000.

£12.50p a head

“Hundreds” is less than a thousand – and an unofficial figure we heard quoted by a councillor who ought to know was that across the day the turnout totalled four hundred - an effective subsidy per head of twelve pounds fifty.
That works out at around 65 people coming and going each hour of the event – probably fewer than attended some private parties around the place.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, bearing in mind that people were expected to supply their own picnic and accessories.
And what did they get for our money?
A bit of karaoke, some school sports day stuff for the kiddies, and a knockout tournament to find the first World Bowling Greens champion playing with cabbages instead of balls.

Cosy

The competition result gave a good clue as to the popularity of the contest with the visiting public.
How much cosier can you get than this … from the borough council’s website?
“Newly-elected Boston Mayor, Councillor Colin Brotherton had a go at cabbage bowling, losing in the quarter finals. And Jubilee Queen Zonnita Haw made it all the way through to the semi-finals before being knocked out by immediate past Boston Mayoress Sue Donaldson. Tye Holmes-Parker, 12, played his way to the final …
“In a closely-fought final Sue's white cabbages rested closest to the red (jack) cabbage and she was declared the 2012 World Bowling Greens Champion. It was a real family affair as she received the winner's trophy from her mother, immediate past Boston Mayor Councillor Mary Wright, sponsored by her in memory of her husband and Sue's father.”
Truly a People’s Party.
And guess what. In a couple of other “world record” attempts, Tye Holmes-Parker won a gold medal for his attempt to balance the most coins on his face in one minute - and Councillor Wright's “quick reflexes and steady hand” won the challenge to stack the most 2p coins in 30 seconds.
We were highly amused by some video on the Boston Standard’s website of the closing ceremony, when the “crowds” sang the national anthem. For a brief second, the camera panned to the left, then realised that there was no-one to photograph, and rapidly returned to the main scene.

    Beacon … be gone!

But the final ignominy came later in the day.

More than 4,200 beacons were lit across the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, as well as Commonwealth and Overseas UK Territories in celebration of the Jubilee between 10pm and 10-30pm on Monday night.

Boston was ringed by them – at Kirton, Frampton, Fishtoft, Butterwick and Carrington … seven in all.

As for the town itself …

Boston Eye reader Darren Ruck sent us this photograph with the comment: “Just thought you might like a picture of Boston’s very own fire beacon in all its glory during the diamond jubilee. Can you see the crowds gathered for it to be lit at 10pm on Monday night like all the others across the country? No - me neither.

“It’s on Skirbeck Road in case you didn’t know - it seems our local councillors didn’t!”

Darren, who knows whereof he speaks, having built a beacon for Caistor’s jubilee celebrations, added: “I was gutted to see ours not being used.”

Irony

Back in January – in a news release which has inexplicably vanished from the borough council’s website … as though its removal will somehow mean that it never appeared – Councillor Yvonne Gunter said: "We want to see the town a blaze of patriotic red, white and blue. We want to see all areas of the town pulling together to make this a really special time for Boston - it won't happen again so we want everyone to make the most of it."
And Councillor Derek Richmond said: "We are open to all suggestions for helping Boston stand out this summer - let's make it a right royal ‘borough’ in 2012."
Students of irony, please take note.
Mind you, had people known that the Queen was visiting Central Park in person – as the website item at the bottom of our photo montage suggests –  the turnout might have been better!
But just when you thought it was safe …
A highlight of Monday’s Jubilee bash in the park was the switching on of a fountain, in what has now been renamed the Jubilee rather than Victorian Garden – currently a stockade of wooden joists.
Monday’s event organiser and leisure, parks, open spaces and cemeteries portfolio holder, Councillor Yvonne Gunter, was quoted as saying: "There was real community spirit evident throughout the day. We made sure Boston marked the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in the most traditional of ways. And Boston will be one of the few places with a lasting legacy of the day - our magnificent Jubilee Fountain."

Now you see it … now you don’t

Lasting?
A sharp eyed reader contacted us on Friday afternoon – just four days after the opening – to say: “The above structure, subject of many of your comments in the past, has disappeared! Taken away on the back of a council truck. Was it only hired for the weekend? Or has it not been paid for?”
Although we clearly explained the situation in an e-mail to Boston Borough Council’s Communications Department asking for an explanation, the response was somewhat baffling.
It read: “The document and article need amending since the event at the weekend has passed. I am just in the process of updating it so need to remove it to do so.”
Undeterred, we explained the case of the vanishing fountain even more clearly …
But answer came there none.
Since then, a more plausible explanation heard by a reader is that the fountain was removed because of vandalism - something you might think could have been anticipated, and steps taken to avoid it.
Should we ever receive an official answer, we’ll let you know.

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
Our former blog is archived at: http://bostoneyelincolnshire.blogspot.com

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

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

 

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

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

Never let it be said that Boston fails to miss a chance to paint the town red ..

What do you make of Boston's Diamond Jubillee Celebrations -  please,  let us know ...

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

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



Week ending: our Friday miscellany of news and events ...

The battle to protect the rights of disabled drivers in Boston may not apparently have yet been lost. A special council meeting on 28th June will consider objections received after “consultations” on an amendment to the present rules - issued as result of the proposal to introduce parking charges for disabled drivers to rip taxpayers off still further. The so-called “leadership” on the council has resorted to various stunts during the debate on all of this – ignoring e-mails of concern, arbitrarily creating extra “free” time for the disabled to hobble to and from the shops, and - most fatuously -suggesting that blue badge holders resent the “discrimination” of being allowed to park for nothing, when they are gagging to be charged. In the interim, the good news is that the proposed new charges cannot be introduced at least until after this meeting – in the same way that the tacky deal involving the Geoff Moulder Leisure Centre had to be delayed after it was called in.

Some news that we heard a week or so ago has now been officially confirmed – the new group leader of the Boston District Independentson Boston Borough Council is Councillor David Witts, who takes over from Councillor Helen Staples. The new deputy group leader is Councillor Alison Austin, who takes over from Councillor Richard Austin – well, it gives the party something to do, we suppose! Incidentally, the rest of the rumour – yet to be confirmed … but you heard it here first - is that Councillor Staples will soon make another adjustment to her political career - in a rightwards direction to where we suspect is the true homeland of ex-BBI … now BDI members.

It’s that time of year when we have to resort to jumping up and down on the contents of our green wheelie bin to force in as much garden waste as possible – yet ironically … and like many others … we have several quid languishing in the Worst Street coffers, having paid up front for the new brown bins that are to be introduced. By all accounts, we’ll have to wait for another month at least until the new bins are delivered. But there has been a stony silence about how sales are going. At the end of last month, and within the space of about a week, we were told by the borough council that sales of bins were a feeble 37- only for that to surge dramatically to 2,000 just a few days later. Since then, nothing has been heard. What worries us is that perhaps too few people have ordered bins to make the proposed new system viable, and we think it is time for an update of the situation.
Boston Eye is just a few pages away from our 2,000th publication since we switched from a web format to a blog more than five years ago. We know that some of you have been reading our little effort since it began, and thank you for your patience and loyalty. The milestone prompted us to look at how other local blogs are performing, and the picture is a mixed one. Whilst the Labour group on Boston Borough Council manage a daily publication, it is often sustained by potboilers from head office - and the reaction of shadow ministers to some government pronouncement does not make the most exciting reading. Meanwhile, Independent Councillor Carol Taylor has been blogging weekly since February, and produces an interesting mixture of council news and ward issues …
… But we said the picture was a mixed one, and it is. Boston’s Joint Deputy Leader and Conservative County Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire, was once without doubt the most prolific local political blogger of them all. But since last year’s elections he no longer appears to feel the need to share with voters. His most recent blog is dated 27th June last year on the thrilling subject of the annual appointments to external committees for 2011-2012 – which were superseded at the council’s annual meeting last week. But Councillor Singleton-McGuire is not alone. This weekend it will be a year since English Democrat Councillor David Owens’s last blog on his English Patriot page, whilst his party colleague Councillor Elliott Fountain – who is involved with a number of blogs – is also well behind the news. Conservative County Councillor Andrea Jenkyns, meanwhile, closed her blog at the end of December 2010, and now has a webpage which contains mostly personal stuff. Although items are undated, the last one of interest to voters seems to be about a year old. All of this is very disappointing – particularly from the Conservatives, who one might think they owe us something in the way of openness, transparency and information as the party that rules at both local and county level.

Talking of Councillor Singleton-McGuire, we learn that  his application to turn the front room of his house into a wedding chapel - with facilities to celebrate the event in his back garden - were turned down by the borough’s planning committee … despite a recommendation to approve the plans. Apparently, even though the Tories had a majority, one Conservative on the committee called for the idea to be refused and two others abstained from voting, whilst another declared an interest and left the meeting. One councillor who failed to impress our observer at the meeting was Paul Mould – who, we are told, “was convinced that people only got married on a Saturday and that Spilsby Road didn’t get a lot of traffic.” Our observer added: “He really was hilarious, Boston’s own Father Jack - if you ever watched “Father Ted.” This seemed a little harsh to us, so we sought out pictures of the two men –and as you can see (above, left) there are clearly no similarities ...

As the Jubilee celebration weekend looms, we wonder what happened to the plan for Boston to be "a blaze of red, white and blue for this summer's Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations” - as promised by Boston Borough Council at the start of the year. Then, the council's portfolio holder for leisure services, parks and cemeteries, Yvonne Gunter, declared: "We want to see the town a blaze of patriotic red, white and blue. We want to see all areas of the town pulling together to make this a really special time for Boston - it won't happen again so we want everyone to make the most of it." We don’t know about it not happening again, but readers who have recently visited the town centre report that it doesn’t appear to have happened for a first time. However, we did hear yesterday afternoon that businesses seeking news of their hanging baskets ordered from the legendarily incompetent Boston Business Improvement District have been told that they are due to arrive in about another week's time! It seems that the BID can't tell its Jubilee from its Boston in Bloom - but on this occasion things are not blooming marvellous!

Meanwhile as plans press ahead for what sounds like a glorified school sports day this coming Monday - and it would certainly pass for 1952 if everyone could be persuaded to wear grey – the Boston Standard is helping to push the party line when it comes to the £5,000 donated by the Boston Town Area Committee to fund the event. As we have pointed out, BTAC funding is supposed only to cover events involving town centre wards – otherwise the money should be forthcoming from the council’s main budget. Clearly, this event cannot be exclusive to Boston ward residents - which we presume is why this cumbersome wording (above, right) has been applied…

The council may find it necessary to dress up its financial “ingenuity” in this way – but why the Standard goes along with it baffles us completely.

Someone else who is baffled this week is a Boston resident who has noticed that the rules concerning wheelie bin collections are being relaxed for his neighbours. A couple, who have no apparent physical disability, put their bin out– but after it is emptied, the bin crew return it up the drive. The council’s rules on assisted collections are quite specific. They say: “We provide an assisted collection to residents who are disabled or infirm in some way, which would make it difficult for the occupier to pull their bin in and out for collection. If you require this service please call us … and … we can fill an application form out or arrange a visit." Enquires with a council officer revealed the “residents had requested that although they can wheel the bin down to the footpath, there are reasons why they would like it wheeled back”and that the bin crews are given permission to decide whether or not they make arrangements with households. When asked, he said he didn't know how many households received this extra help. Given the current delicate relationship between Boston Borough Council and its disabled residents, we feel that the situation should be clarified.
The other week we mused on why Sainsbury’s seems to open stores anywhere in Lincolnshire other than in Boston. Couple that with that the news that Boston’s former Kwik Save store is to be taken on by budget chain B and M Bargains – yet another such store to join the list of QD, Poundstretcher, Poundland, Home Bargains – and then other local versions. Although we have said before that these stores target the population, the only way to improve Boston's appeal is to try to get something better to come to town.
Finally, we note that Boston BID is undeterred by its justified failure to win its bid to be a Portas Pilot. Its enthusiastically lacklustre effort - coupled with an irrepressibly dull video - ensured that it failed to make the grade. Now, the view seems to be that Boston has been so fortunate in recent years, that the prizes have been won by those towns that were not so lucky in the past. Sorry, but that concept is rubbish. Boston lost out because it sent in a lousy bid – and the idea that a “tweaked” re-application might do better only underlines how out of touch we are with reality.
That’s it for this week – and next. Given the extended Bank Holiday, we have decided not to return until Monday 11th June. It doesn’t mean that we are away- you can e-mail us at any time, and in the event of important news, we will be back straight away ...

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

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