Our Friday miscellany

of the week's

news and events

It was only at the beginning of October that we heard reassuring noises from Boston Borough Council leader Peter Bedford after claims that the town was not a safe place to venture out in after dark. “That depends on your outlook,” he said in a radio interview. “I walked through town with my wife on Saturday night after a concert in Boston Stump and everybody was well behaved. We never saw an issue at all. So it’s how you want to look at things.”  It would appear that the borough looks at things rather differently to its head honcho. Statistics for the quarter to the end of September report a 4.8% increase in ‘assault with less serious injury’ – an increase of nine more offences – and a 4.5% increase in ‘violence against the person’ – where there were 20 more offences. And it adds: “Increases in alcohol related anti-social behaviour and violence and abuse have been experienced in Boston town centre relating to the night-time economy.” As we remarked at the time – an early evening concert chucks out no later than 10pm – so to find the town relatively quiet is not much of a surprise. But come back a couple of hours later ...

As the council pursues its citizens for every last penny it can wring from them to shore up its tottering finances, would it be unfair to suggest that at little more prudence is paid to retrieving what it’s owed before moving on to shooting fish in a barrel – such as racking up parking charges?

Council tax debts totalling £62,388.67 and “sundry” debts totalling £2,592.94 have been approved for write off between July and September.  And even worse, unpaid business rates totalling more than £143,000 have also been written off. Obviously, if a firm goes bust, there’s little that can be done about it – but what excuse is there for the government’s countryside department DEFRA getting away with £13,881 due to “errors on various accounts, time barred."

Car parks and money are much in the news this week. Hot on the heels of the borough council’s attack on drivers and the disabled who may be ordered to pay more, comes news that the Pilgrim Hospital made £420,000 from its car parking charges in the first ten months of the year – which works out at a cool half a million for the full twelvemonth period. A long time ago, we think we heard an excuse for the introduction of charges along the lines that the monies made would help fund patient amenities. Now the story is that: "We cannot justify using money intended for patient care to pay for car parking, and so we seek to recover the costs incurred in providing car parking facilities from those that use them." All well and good – and probably true in part. But do the costs really total half a million quid a year? If they do, then a few questions need to be asked. If they don’t, then the Pilgrim is ripping off visitors. We’re with the Taxpayers’ Alliance on this one: "The Pilgrim's car park appears to be raking it in," said a spokesman. "NHS parking charges shouldn't be used as a revenue raiser. Taxpayers have already paid for the car park's construction, they shouldn't have to fork out when they're ill or visiting a loved one. The NHS wouldn't need to charge patients and visitors so much to park their cars if they weren't wasting huge amounts of cash on wasteful spending."

A reader tells us that the government’s Planning Inspectorate opened a hearing on Tuesday into a planning application involving West Skirbeck House, Boston. He points out that it was quite a controversial application, which was resubmitted a number of times and raised quite a number of questions, and adds: “I think it should have been reported, or at least been mentioned on the council website. If I have not found it on the web I am not sure how the public would have got to know about it.” Are there are those who don’t want us to know, we wonder? Who can say?
On a personal note, today marks the Ruby wedding anniversary of Boston and Mrs Eye, and if we can’t claim a little space on our own blog to mention the fact, then something is seriously wrong somewhere.
As a gesture both to the occasion - and also one that indirectly benefits the town in a small way for a few hours, we have sponsored the lights at Boston Stump for today. They will go on this afternoon at around 4pm and off again at around midnight. It costs just £25 to do this, and you can mark any event that you like. A notice is posted on the south door of the Stump - the entrance from the Market Place - saying why the lights are being turned on. As good luck would have it, a couple of sponsors have ensured that the Stump will be lit over Christmas – but the scheme needs much more by way of support. The rates are £25 per day, £100 a week, £300 a month and £3,000 a year, and they were once sponsored  annually by Oldrids.
By all accounts the performance by Boston’s carolling councillors at this weekend’s Christmas Market will be one to remember – and a sneak preview of what to expect at Sunday’s 2-30pm appearance in the Market Place ... recorded at rehearsals ... was broadcast on yesterday’s Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Lincolnshire. You can hear it again by clicking here and moving the timer to the 2.22 mark. And you can hear more on today’s Nicola Gilroy show on BBC Radio Lincolnshire between 2pm and 4pm.
Talking of Boston’s Christmas celebrations, in the Saint Nick of time, Boston Business Improvement District, which is supposed to be playing a major role in the organisation of this weekend’s festivities, has finally got around to mentioning them on its website – although not with any great enthusiasm. Nor does it mention the Carolling Councillors. But one news item did catch our eye. “Don't forget to enter the Christmas Treasure hunt. There are several reindeers (sic) hidden in various shop windows in the town and the winner will get a hamper of goodies.” They shouldn’t be too hard to find – just follow your nose would be our advice.
Among the items of spending over £500 for October listed by Boston Borough Council appears an apparent dramatic reduction in charges by the borough’s Chief Executive – whose contract was recently extended until September 2013 and with a three and a half per-cent pay cut. The figure for June was £9,000, but thereafter July, August and September have all been below £2,000. What this might mean, we couldn’t say – but something appears to have changed. The only other items of note are “various gym equipment” costing £62,999.96, and a series of training courses including “X5 day training” at £3,000, a one-day “Equality and Diversity workshop” for £2,329.57, and “Supporting and managing the stressed employee” – a snip at just £600. X5? We’ve Googled it, and think that it is a bus service in Oxford.
We sincerely hope that before too long the Boston Standard will consider reintroducing more news into its pages. After last week’s issue, which included four-pages of local promotions and a 12 page supplement on a business awards event, this week has three pages devoted to the paper’s sports awards, one on its “Community Chest” donation, three on its “Terrific Tots” competition and two on its “Local Business accelerator.” Of course community support is part of a local newspaper’s job – but surely, it should not dominate the content to such a degree. And talking of the paper’s baby show, we wonder how fair it is to invite people to vote via text for a 50p charge per vote, but to award two votes if entries are submitted on a coupon. It may sell a few more papers, but it doesn’t seem cricket to us.
Finally, just so that the Boston Target doesn’t escape our gaze this week, we offer the headline below for your delectation and delight

We’re not quite sure which part of our anatomy constitutes the brunt, but baring it at this time of year runs a risk of frostbite at worst, or chilblains at the very least!

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