There’s really not a lot we need to say about the long-awaited Task and Finish Group on the Social Impact of Population Change in Boston – because everyone will have a view of their own – and a chance to express it a week tomorrow*

For once, senior councillors have admitted that the town has changed beyond recognition in recent years, and in the introduction to the report, the chairman of the group, Councillor Paul Kenny, and the leader of the council Peter Bedford, acknowledge that the population may well be higher than the “official” increase of 8,850 in the ten years since the 2001 census.
And, they warn: “What is clear is that the recent changes are set to continue.”
The report sets out 28 recommendations, and some that caught our eye in particular concerned policing, employment and education.
Firstly – what a shame that recommendation number 1 is to lobby Lincolnshire Police to formally record every time officers confiscate alcohol, move people on or otherwise deal with anti-social behaviour or the potential for anti-social behaviour related to alcohol consumption within the Designated Public Place Order area in the town.
Yes, it will be a useful guide to the scale of any problem – but all it does other than that is to add to the mountain of paperwork that is already choking our police service and keeping officers off the streets.
More welcome will be the recommendation to seek MP Mark Simmonds’s support to lobby the new Police and Crime Commissioner to adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ approach on street drinking and associated anti-social behaviour.
Having said that, it’s not so long ago that we were told that such an approach was impossible, and wonder what has since changed.
Ironically, Boston Police are now falling over themselves to address the problem of drinking in Boston town centre – with two announcements about plans to act being issued in the space of a week.
The more recent promises extra patrols in Boston town centre after a surge of complaints from local residents which will see no leniency or tolerance if people throw litter, urinate in the street or use other anti-social behaviour.
What a shame that the problem has been ignored for so long – as it was one of the major concerns which led to calls for a protest march in the town a year or so ago, and earlier action might have changed events considerably.
On employment issues, the argument has come up again that indigenous people have a poor work ethic, and we are now told  that the modern school curriculum impacts upon the popularity of careers in the agricultural sector because the profile of food and farming is very poor.
The recommendation here is to work with the NFU and local industries to work with schools and promote work opportunities in all local industries – and to write to local employers encouraging them to advertise their local job vacancies through the  JobCentre Plus website  … something which they apparently don’t do at present.
On education, the report has various recommendations regarding funding, and ensuring that enough local places are available to avoid pupils having to travel long distances.
There is also a call to encourage local schools, colleges and employers to work together to offer“valuable” work experience to over 16 year olds  in pack-houses and other food processing establishments.
Again, we worry about the “packhouse” mentality, which views our local education system as merely a conduit from the classroom to the caulie fields.
As has often been pointed out, Boston has a poor record where education is concerned and we feel that the powers that be should be looking to give our children better schooling and trying to attract new white collar businesses into the borough to create extra opportunities and a reason not to leave the area.
It also worth remembering that the technological advances that came during the Second World War contributed to the rapid development of mechanisation of agriculture and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs on the land.
We could be sowing the seeds of disaster if we fail to think beyond the present methods of harvesting, preparation and packing.
All it would take is a couple of clever inventions and the jobs that exist locally could cease to exist.

* A special meeting to consider  the Task and Finish Group report is being held on October 18^th at 6-30pm in the Committee Room  at the Municipal Buildings in West Street. Anyone who wants to comment on it should write to Janette Collier, Senior Democratic Services Officer, Municipal Buildings, West Street, Boston or e-mail janette.collier@boston.gov.uk     If you want to make your views known or ask a question in person at the meeting, you need to submit them by 5pm next Monday 15^th  October. Full details are at http://www.boston.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4737

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