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Rasen to believe why Boston's "Portas Pilot" bid failed. There's really no surprise  ...

We do not believe that anyone can have been surprised that Boston failed to persuade the judges of the Portas Pilot scheme that it deserved one of the £100,000 grants that was on offer.
We said when the third and final rewrite of the bid was submitted that it lacked sparkle – which is scarcely surprising since it was produced by a committee that started out around 20-strong yet rapidly shrank to a core group trying to paper over the cracks.
The Portas scheme invited towns around the country to compete for one of 12 grants of £100,000 each,  through a written bid backed up by a video on YouTube.
Competition was intense, with a reported 370 towns battling it out  to win the endorsement of retail guru and Queen of Shops Mary Portas, and Minister of State for Communities and Local Government Grant Shapps.
There is, however, one winning town from Lincolnshire - Market Rasen … whose bid we mentioned in Boston Eye at the time that Boston’s lacklustre effort was delivered - because it was so different and inventive.
The difference was inspiration versus obligation.
The Boston offer gave the impression that someone felt we should bid for the money because it was there and people would expect the borough to throw its hat in the ring for a share.
The resulting half-hearted application was deeply worthy, and awash with reports and information – some of which were years out of date - and jobsworthy obsession with administration in preference to action.
After a first draft allocated £10,000 for a part-time project manager, the wage was beefed up to £23,000. Then there was a massive £15,000 for “website and social media development,” £7,000 on portable displays and £3,000 on paint –  a total  which would guzzle up almost half the money available .
The group which initially met to formulate the bid comprised no fewer than eight Boston Borough Council officers and two councillors – more than half of the people there – and what might be described as genuine business representatives numbered just four.
It could explain a lot.
Leading the application for funding was the imaginatively impoverished Boston BID (though accountable  to Boston Borough Council,) whilst the other partners were  the manager of Pescod Square, the Boston Area Partnership, a “strategic” talking shop, Boston Preservation Trust, Boston Stump, Boston College, two retailers, one local businessman and – inevitably whenever the arthritic hand of the borough council is involved - the South Lincolnshire Community Service.
Quite an eclectic, although totally unsuitable and inappropriate mix, wouldn’t you say - particularly for a group whose brief is to try to rejuvenate our local high street shopping?
It was finally hacked into some sort of shape after a meeting of two Boston Borough councillors, two officers, one BID representative and one from the Lincoln chamber,  and one business representative - which shows how enthusiasm had collapsed.
Over in Market Rasen, by contrast, a Business Improvement Group appeared as if by magic.
No ballots or levies there.
Just a tightly focussed group of around half a dozen strong willed local community volunteers - all but one of them running local businesses and committed to success. Even the one who doesn’t run a business is a chartered town planner whose skills could be invaluable.
Whilst Boston talked the talk, Market Rasen walked the walk.
A lively blog bubbling with stories, ideas and information appeared almost from Day One.
Public meetings have attracted scores of local people - and a video showing real people talking about the local issues put Boston’s tedious and turgid offering to shame.
Even Mary Portas herself highlighted the video on her Twitter page – see our photo at the top of the page.
The twelve winning towns will each feature in a TV programme - which is icing on the cake.
Fifteen more "Portas Pilot" areas will be selected later this year, and we understand that Boston is hoping for better luck next time.
We are afraid that unless they resubmit a much improved and re-tweaked offering, they are destined to be in for disappointment yet again.

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