If you want to see a true video nasty, then look no further than the Boston Standard’s coverage of the ceremony to install a plaque in Boston’s new refurbished Market Place to celebrate the completion of the £2 million “refurbishment.”

Once again, Boston Borough Councillor and portfolio holder for the town centre Derek Richmond, seized the chance to attack the people he allegedly serves – this time the town’s car drivers.
Parking in the Market Place has been a problem ever since it reopened to traffic in July – with the sound of the buck being passed being heard every time it was suggested that someone in authority did something about it.
The borough council blamed the police.
The police said that they lacked the manpower.
Then the borough council started making threats on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council, which takes responsibility for parking enforcement next month – and plans to issue comedy dummy tickets ahead of time as a way of softening drivers up for the hefty fines to come.
Councillor Richmond did give a passing nod to the reason for the event – telling us how “exciting” it was to have the Market Place back again to its old medieval state … although whether he meant that its growing use as an open air latrine to enhance the impression is another matter.
What next? – an open sewer flowing through the centre in which dead dogs and cats float serenely by between piles of offal and other disgusting debris.
With Boston Borough Council, you never can tell. They would probably declare it a theme park!
But it was really parking that obsessed Councillor Richmond.
“On 3^rd December, civil parking enforcement comes in and then we’ll all find out whether people knows (sic) where they should park or not, otherwise they’ll be prosecuted.”
A quick interruption from the council’s head of planning, Steve Lumb – another senior figure who thinks that a tie is unnecessary on formal occasions, apparently – tried to quash the suggestion … made by a senior local police officer, no less … that the Market Place is a dangerous place.    
“The whole issue about the plaque unveiling today is to reveal what is a really fantastic space. What this allows is for people to walk across the space to appreciate the buildings and to use what really was before a rather sad looking car park …”   
He declared this to be “the start of a future for Boston …”
Unfortunately, a tracking shot of the "fantastic space" showed it to be awash with cars in places where they apparently ought not to be ...
All of which helped Councillor Richmond return his fire to the issue of parking.
“I would imagine that everybody driving through here has passed their driving test, and if they’ve read the Highway Code, they know what the parking rules are anyway. So it’s a bit naïve to say they don’t know where they can park or where they can’t park…”
Yes, the Market Place is now a fantastic space.
But please don’t try to walk across it, as Mr Lumb suggests, unless you are confident that you have adequate life insurance.
Traffic comes from all directions and all sides.
IntoTown buses treat the space as if a road still runs through it – and drive accordingly.
And frankly, at present, there is nothing special about the buildings that ring the Market Place.
At ground floor level, they are mostly modern shop fronts that are poorly decorated. Above, they are older and potentially interesting – but still poorly decorated.
And even though there are hundreds of thousands available in grant aid for restoration and improvement work, for some reason, the council has not been able to sell the idea to local businesses.
The Five Lamps – mentioned by Mr Lumb – are well done …  but sadly used as an
adjunct to a bus stop rather than a centrepiece.
The reason for the parking problems is that the few bays remaining after the refurbishment were lightly marked in contrasting stone, which – when wet – became invisible.
And the laudable idea of avoiding brash yellow lines and signs denoting where to park has left motorists with no clue as to where they can park and where they can’t.
Matters might have been made easier had someone bothered to put out the signs that told people to park only in the spaces provided  – instead of leaving them stacked in a heap. But these signs were seldom displayed – and nor was any easy to follow guide made available.
Drivers are confused because they have not been helped with basic information regarding parking since the Market Place reopened.
But for Councillor Richmond – who of course does not have to pay to park …  unlike the rest of us – it  is easy to be pious and patronising.
Already, he is under fire from viewers of the Boston Standard video.
“Councillor Richmond demonstrates his lack of understanding of what the council have done to the market place,” says one commentator. “He typically shifts the blame to drivers for the mayhem that he helped create.
“It's not just a few drivers that are mistaken, its hundreds every day so it’s obvious that it is not the drivers that are in the wrong it’s our silly system.”
Another says: “Who on earth does this councillor think he is? The Highway Code has nothing to do with it. Insufficient signage, no road markings … Bostonians say it’s dangerous, the police say it’s dangerous, and all the councillor does is give himself a pat on the back and collects his fees. Shame on him.”
Another reader refers to Councillor Richmond as being “naïve” himself, whilst a fourth contributor declares: “We the public (and voters) of Boston should not be surprised by these rather obnoxious comments. It seems to me that the dictatorship in charge feel they can afford to be arrogant with the electorate. It is a "we are in charge attitude, we make the rules, and you must follow.”

 

 

 

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