A couple
of weeks ago we were treated to the show biz spectacle known as the BAFTAS.
And not to
be outdone, Worst Street last week staged its own version – a less than
glittering event which must surely come to be known as the DAFTAS
***
Had Boston
Borough Council taken an unlikely leap in open and transparent communication
and webcast last week’s ‘extraordinary’ council meeting to appoint a new leader,
it would surely have ranked as a video nasty by all accounts.
***
It was a
single agenda item meeting which we would have thought called for calm and
rational debate – no doubt with the hope that it would be conducted with the common-sense
and level headedness that such a rare event should merit.
***
But it was
not to be.
According
to the two separate accounts that we read – and which largely agreed with each
other – attendees at the meeting witnessed bad-tempered, disrespectful,
undemocratic and unpleasant behaviour from many councillors … some of whom had clearly
come armed to the teeth with their copies of the Oxford Book of Political and
Other Abuse.
***
The
meeting was called following the resignation of former leader Aaron Spencer who
– after just six months on the gilded Worst Street throne – was offered the
choice to quit or be ousted by a humiliating vote of no confidence.
***
Apparently,
bloody but unbowed, he sought support to be re-elected as an ‘Independent’
leader – and, indeed, six opposition councillors signed a demand for the rarely-convened
extraordinary meeting to vote for a new top dog (or bitch, let’s not be guilty
of sexism).
***
Ahead of
last Monday’s meeting, the Conservative group demonstrated some
uncharacteristic speed in decision-making and elected Councillor Paul Skinner
as their leader – and nominating him to spearhead the council as a hole at last
week’s meeting which would see him become the fourth leader of the council in
just under four years, and the second in around six months.
***
Accounts
of the meeting have been widely circulated, but it interesting to note that
veteran councillor Alison Austin summed it up neatly with a major criticism of the
Conservatives, whose recent behaviour, she said, had “done more to damage the reputation
of this council” than for several decades.
She
reiterated the seven Nolan principles or public life – which were issued
a quarter of a century ago this year.
These call
for: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty
and leadership.
***
Not only
are these principles a little past their sell-by date in today’s public life –
but a number of them have been sadly lacking at Worst Street for some time now …
and it’s worth remembering that all that is expected of our councillors is that
they attend a minimum of just two meetings a year.
They don’t
even have to dirty their hands dealing with the voters who elected them and who
pay their allowances if they don’t want to – and one sad omission from the list
(as was clearly demonstrated last Monday night) was that of respect.
***
Whilst the
Tories were roundly condemned for their political execution of Councillor Spencer,
the man himself sent apologies for his absence from the meeting.
***
And even
though a group of non-Tories had forced the meeting, not a single name was
offered during the meeting as a nominee for leader, other than Councillor
Skinner.
One former
councillor – Mike Gilbert, who is a one-time cabinet member and now runs his
own political party reported on Facebook: “This was not a good meeting.
“It was bad-tempered,
fractious and for the political groups and parties a return to the old ways of
doing business.”
***
Another
former councillor who attended, Helen Staples, commented on social media: “I have
never been in a more hostile environment as the council chamber was last night.”
***
So –
unquestionably a rival to the BAFTAs, Worst Street’s DAFTAs would be incomplete
without their awards.
And here
are the ones that we have identified: based on the reports of the meeting
***
Best
farce – The entire
meeting.
Worst performance – awarded jointly to Councillors
Brian Rush and Anne Dorrian.
Best
supporting actor –
the Mayor for trying to bail out his Tory colleagues – to the extent that some observers
thought that he had gone too far and lost sight of the impartial role that
goes with the job.
Absent
friends –
Aaron Spencer for leaving an empty seat
It’ll
be alright on the night incorporating the ‘Let them eat Cake’ award – Councillor Jonathan Noble for the
quote: “We are the Conservatives, we are the ruling group, if we wish to change
our leader we will do so."
It’ll
be alright on the night award (after all the shouting) award – Councillor Paul Skinner, who
without any opposition to his nomination only managed 16 votes, with seven
against – leaving another six abstentions and one apology.
Not getting
it quite right award:
Councillor Stephen Woodliffe for saying that outside of the borough
"people are laughing at us". They’ve laughing at you inside
the borough as well!
Best
winner’s speech –
no award made.
***
And the
award for Unintentional Irony goes to the Local Government
Association which came to Boston last September as part of a ‘Corporate Peer
Challenge’ and subsequently reported:
“The new
Leader has brought energy, enthusiasm and a collaborative approach, while
leading from the front (e.g. staff briefings, visibly leading the growth
agenda, and cross-party engagement).
“This has
engendered tangible goodwill towards the new administration, with staff and
many councillors enthused by his ambition for Boston and willingness to engage.
The focus should now be on clearly defining the political vision, through an
adopted Corporate Plan, to capitalise on the momentum and to strengthen
political and managerial Leadership.”
***
There is
no question that the Tory administration could have handled this whole business
better.
The former
leader played the part, but we think in the long run allowed the image to overshadow
the reality of what the task required and which led to his downfall.
And we doubt
the sincerity of some of those opposition councillors who have heaped praise on
his head since his departure, whose bottom line seem to have used approbation
as a bludgeon with which to beat the leadership.
***
Now that
the poisoned chalice has been passed to Councillor Skinner, he faces the problem
on trying to reunite the baying rabble that attended last week’s meeting.
Whatever
he does will fall on stony ground we fear, as there are so many now in
opposition who are keener to see yet another leader fail rather than succeed – no matter
what they claim.
***
A two-pronged
attack needs to be made to address the problems faced in Boston.
The first
is short-term and is to clean up the whole town in a literal sense – not
just by removing litter ... and certainly not by trumpeting the penalising of
half a dozen people a week for dropping their fag ends in the street.
The drabness
of the town centre needs an urgent makeover, with some eye-catching ideas to
make it more attractive.
And while
we’re about it, can we bring back the market?
***
Longer
term – well, there’s the PE21 project which is not exactly scintillating but
might at least see an eyesore or two demolished and a poor, run-down area of
town improved.
But this
is jam in twenty years’ time, not even tomorrow – and it ignores the problem
known as West Street, which borders one side of the scheme.
***
Councillor
Skinner has notionally slimmed his cabinet down by conflating his job as leader
with his existing portfolio for regulatory services.
But as we
remarked last week – the unreliability of WorstWeb, the borough website,
often raises more question than it answers.
Depending
where you look, we either have a portfolio holder for finance, or we don’t.
***
But we
think that Councillor Skinner needs to do more. The cabinet needs a spring clean as
not all its members are pulling their weight in our humble opinion. The only
drawback with that lies in the question “where do you find the people with the
right skills and quality?”
The Tory group has pretty well exhausted all the possible choices. And the opposition – for all its mouthings-off would struggle to find suitable candidates as well.
The Tory group has pretty well exhausted all the possible choices. And the opposition – for all its mouthings-off would struggle to find suitable candidates as well.
***
What worries
us more than anything is the fear that after all the recent upheavals and
unpleasantness that we have seen we will still be on the receiving end of the
same old sour-tasting mixture as before.
***
So – we’ve
had the DAFTAs.
What next,
we wonder?
The
Boscars?
***
A final
word about council tax.
As we’ve already
mentioned, Worst Street wants another 2.05% – which we expect to be hyped as the act of a
generous council seeking to spare our bank balance … even though the small print is
packed with padding that will take far more from us, notably a minimum 50%
increase in the cost of collecting our garden waste.
Lincolnshire
County Council has come up with a proposed rise of 1.5%, plus an additional 2%
for adult social care which will add £45 to the cost of an average Band D
property.
***
But as
with last year, Lincolnshire Police top the list.
Last Friday,
Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones was granted a 4.1% increase in the
force’s share of council tax for the coming financial year – which will also
see the PCC standing for re-election.
***
Quite how he
might explain his retreat on promises from year to year would be interesting to
hear, although an account of the meeting suggest that it didn't come up.
This was
what he said in his report to the Police and Crime panel when spelling out his
police precept plans for the current financial year 2019/20.
No doubts
there.
Whilst we may struggle to find a rise in double figures for 2019/20 – after that we can breathe
easy with a paltry (by comparison) 2%.
***
But this
is what he told last Friday’s meeting that set the precept for the coming
financial year.
Why on
earth should we believe that, we ask?
***
We have a
couple of Pilgrimages to make during the remainder of the month, so our
blogging may well be affected.
But rest
assured that if it matters, you’ll read about it in Boston Eye.
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com
E– mails will be treated in
confidence and published anonymously if requested.
Our former blog is archived at:
http://bostoneyelincolnshire.blogspot.com
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@eye_boston
