Question: How do you rubber stamp a whitewash?

Whoever coined the adage the mills of the gods grind slow, has clearly never seen one of Boston Borough Council’s Task and Finish Groups at work.
A review which began in September 2010 made four recommendations to improve the working of Boston Business Improvement District, and then gave it a year from March 2011 to get its act together.
Despite concerns that nothing much was happening being raised at regular intervals in the meantime, the deadline was rigidly stuck to – but at last, on Wednesday, the borough’s Overview and Scrutiny committee will consider a report and a recommendation to “note and consider the comments and actions undertaken by Boston BID and offer any further recommendations for Boston BID.”
According to the report, the BID has implemented many improvements - especially in the way it communicates with its members and the public – and also made improvements to management and the way it uses volunteers.
The list of so-called “action” taken by the BID includes a failed attempt to appoint volunteers as member champions and the appointment of a local law firm as company secretary – one of whose first acts was to tell someone who requested more information about board meetings that there was no legal obligation to provide it. Mention is also made of a regular newsletter – although until recently only one had appeared … about ten months ago. There is now another on the BID website entitled Volume 1 issue 3 and dated this month – although issues one and two … the latter of which we somehow missed entirely … cannot be found.
Facebook and Twitter pages are mentioned, but we could find no links from the website.
An online search finds the Facebook page, which demands that you “like” it before you can access it, and which is duplicated on the Twitter page.
It is also claimed that Boston is promoted on YouTube, but it’s all pretty haphazard, and one video created by tourism students from the University of Lincoln describes Boston as a City. Visit YouTube and search for Boston, Lincolnshire, to see what’s on offer.
It is not impressive.
The BID claims to have recruited volunteers from Wormgate, Dolphin Lane and South Street to act as a voice for their areas – but we believe that the groundwork for at least one of these projects was done well before the BID became involved.
Similarly – we note the rejection of a suggestion to share the job of manager to save money – because “a full time manager was required to deliver the increasing number of projects being undertaken by the BID.
“Such projects include the Portas Pilot bid, Community Showcase, and Britain in Bloom.”  
Although the BID is involved in the Portas Pilot,  and is the lead partner in Britain in Bloom, it is by no means running these shows.
And whilst we are told it has recently taken to turning up at Boston Community Showcase meetings, the Showcase is an entirely independent organisation with its own constitution – and in no way a project being undertaken by Boston BID.
Another recommendation of the Task and Finish Group was that Board meetings were open to members, and time allocated for their questions or statements.
The BID response is to say that guests are "welcome" to attend board meetings if they give advance notice - purely to ensure there are enough seats, you understand.  "Extracts" of board meeting minutes are published on the website with a full set of minutes being available to members on request. No mention is made of the introduction of a “question time.”
A lengthy list of BID achievements over the past year boils down to little more than refurbishing a handful of information signs and producing a hard-to-follow 3d map which contains some doubtful entries and cost a small fortune.
And talking of money …
Although times are hard, the BID has obtained scarcely any of the equal match funding that it was supposed to have done.
Whilst it sets great store by the Town Rangers, they swallow 45% of its annual £130,000 income. The manager’s salary takes up another 22%, “marketing, events, promotions and projects” absorb 13%, and “overheads” another 9%.
With almost 90% of income going on the above four items and no match funding, it is hard to imagine much being achieved in the remaaining 18 months or so of the BID’s current term.
The BID is supposed to be an independent company, whose mandate prohibits spending on tasks that should be provided by Boston Borough Council through payment of business rates, or, for example the police.
Yet the BID openly admits that, it was felt that there was a need for additional street cleaning and so  bought two litter carts for volunteers to provide extra street cleaning.
Why did it not instead ask Boston Borough Council to do the job its members were already paying for?
Not only that, we have been told that Town Rangers have been employed to repaint Boston Borough Council street furniture.
One thing is very clear throughout the reports of the past year and a half.
Boston BID and Boston Borough Council are far too snug.
Many projects listed are described as being in partnership  with the council - and of course the BID bailed the council out when it needed more cash for the Christmas lights - £10,000 for each of two years.
BID is collecting litter - which is the job of the council – and duplicating services which are the job of the police with projects such as the town rangers … who can normally be found chatting to their peers in Pescod Square and ensuring that shop windows don’t fall into the street by leaning against them.
Had the BID not received so many crumbs from the council’s table since its formation, it would find it hard to justify its existence.
And later this year it proposes to blow another £10,000 to part fund a “free” concert in Central Park - which will do nothing to boost local trade.
We understand that Boston’s Cabinet portfolio holder for the town centre, Councillor Derek Richmond, is taking over the BID director’s seat held by the council’s Economic Development Officer, Ian Martin.
If that is the case, Councillor Richmond will at least no longer be able to be as vague about BID as he has been to date.
Having said that, with rumours of a Cabinet reshuffle currently doing the rounds, who can say which councillor will be holding which job in the weeks ahead?
It almost goes without saying that Wednesday’s meeting will swallow the report hook, line, and sinker, believe everything it has been told without question, and allow Boston BID to stumble on, extorting hard-earned money from reluctant levy payers to spendmostly on staffing and office space whilst doing jobs that the council can no longer afford to.
Look in detail at the list of so-called achievements and improvements in the report, and you will see how little has really been done .
Not only that, but you will be left with the distinct impression that much of it was hastily cobbled together at the eleventh hour.

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