Just another of the sort of shops we don’t want is being planned for Boston Market Place. Ladbrokes has put in an application for listed building consent to convert the one-time Threshers off licence into yet another bookmaker’s shop. This will give at least three in the Market Place, which we are sure is clearly underserved by such a useful public facility. So far there is no suggestion that the new shop will replace the old one in the High Street – but it will bring the number of bookies in Boston to more than half a dozen. So much for the words heritage, ambience et al.

Talking of planning matters, we note that Boston Borough Council’s Planning Services Department is having its computer software upgraded  which means that the Planning Register and other online facilities will be out of  action until 12^th November. The planning resister makes it possible for the public to keep track of applications, and is  normally updated on a daily basis. Given the timescale for the sale of Boston’s Assembly Rooms, any planning application could well be lodged shortly. We just hope it doesn’t disappear into the black hole in the system between 5^th and 12^th November.
Whilst Boston’s Geoff Moulder Leisure Centre is being refurbished in dribs and drabs, which tends to obscure the fact that costs are running higher than anticipated, we wonder how it is that South Kesteven District Council can deliver the task in a far more impressive way.  Sleaford Leisure Centre has closed for a year for a £2.85m refurbishment which will see a new pool, a larger gym and improvements to its changing rooms and dance studio. The reception area is also being redesigned and the outside of the building will get a new look. Perhaps our Tory leaders are doing the best that they can – there’s a first time for everything – but it has to be said that a complete rebuild has to be better than a piecemeal makeover … and Sleaford isn’t a million miles from Boston for those seeking state of the art facilities.
Having said that, perhaps the pursuit of fitness is becoming less popular after the news this week that the Fitness First branch on Boston West Business Park is to close at the end of the month with the loss of eight jobs. Yet again, another big name organisation has decided that Boston is not worth its while in business terms. We’ve also heard rumblings about the town’s Argos store as well, and worry where the next blow might fall. Surely, it really is time that the great and the good of Boston did something to try to stem the flood of shops and facilities deserting our town, rather than continuing to tell us that everything in the garden is rosy.
We mentioned the Boston Business “Improvement” District at some length yesterday, and continue to be baffled by the way it delivers information to its members and the public. For instance, the BID has a website – but you won’t find much about this year’s Christmas Market – because that is on a site at a different address. Then it publishes a site called The Boston Lincolnshire Messenger which carries news from around the county and beyond as well as Boston. Not only that, the BID also has a Twitter and a Facebook page. The problem with all that is it fragments the information available making the news very hard to find.
The BID is now in its final year, and the people who manage it are hoping that local businesses will vote for its continuance for five more years beyond December 2013. Meanwhile, it lurches on in its own unique way.  Within the organisation there is enthusiasm to increase the hours of the town ranger service – which strangely is now run by a company independent of the BID. A month or so ago, it was felt that letters of support would be helpful in achieving this – and indeed, a number duly materialised.  However, an observer noted that some letters of support were solicited by the rangers themselves and not genuine spontaneous letters. In at least one case, we are informed that a ranger told a staff member at a local business what to write without the owner’s knowledge. Enterprising, certainly, but is it ethical? Somehow we think not.
We are pleased to read on Independent Councillor Carol Taylor’s blog   that the Jubilee  Fountain  in Boston’s Central Park – which was vandalised  by two tough customers in the form of a couple of 13 year-old girls – within days of being switched on is being prepared for reinstallation and that it is currently being reinforced with steel to strengthen it. Steel? Steel? Steel? 
It certainly conjured up an interesting image in our mind’s eye - see the picture on the left ... and click on it to enlarge it. We can’t wait to see what the finished job looks like
Every time a prisoner absconds from the North Sea Camp near Boston and is declared to be a risk, the same questions are asked: What was he doing there in the first place? The latest to do a runner is described as "extremely dangerous and predatory" and suspected of committing a serious sex attack while on the run. There have been too many absconders in recent months – and although the inmates of North Sea Camp are said to  pose little risk to the public, we have to remember that their services are employed on a number of community projects … some of which may well see them in contact with the public on littler picking duties and the like. Boston Borough Council’s Operation Flyswat is among them. It would be nice to have reassurance about what precautions and safeguards are in place on these occasions and whether a rigorous selection procedure and risk assessment is adopted
Members of Boston Borough Council’s task and finish group who spent months tiptoeing through the minefield of population change in the borough must be grinding their teeth after seeing just how easily immigration problems can be solved. Two new exhibitions in Boston are set to give an insight into work being done to improve relations between different communities in the town. One – by the Alchemy Project – featured a display called I Am Me, in which 60 people posed for portraits and wrote about how they felt about their lives, where they lived and worked and what they were happy or worried about. The second exhibition features pictures taken during the project’s free photography walks around the town. Project Alchemy runs until next March and is trying to unravel the myths, misunderstandings and prejudices associated with new arrivals into the town and its surrounding area and it is funded by the Community Development Foundation – a government quango with £80 million to burn – plus another £70,000 from the Home Office. And let’s not forget  that this is running in tandem with a three-year project for Boston and South Holland which will spend £2.5 million from the Arts Council to take art of all forms to the community and into often isolated rural areas where access can be limited. Is someone taking the mickey, or what?
It’s now a fortnight since we tried to subscribe to the Boston Standard to save a quid or two after the 30% unannounced price rise that accompanied a new look that makes the papers harder to read than before. After being given a non-existent offer code, we proceeded as instructed to register our bank account details to create a direct debit, after which we were told to make our choice of which newspaper to subscribe to. We were then told to repeat the procedure – but having handed over confidential bank information once, were reluctant to repeat the exercise. Instead, we wrote to Johnston Press customer services, who promised an early investigation and reply from their subscriptions department.  After a week’s silence, we wrote again, and were promised an urgent reply. A fortnight later we have still had no response, no sign of any subscription – but someone, somewhere, is in possession of our bank details. Guess what we’re going to do?
From time to time, we browse the blog of Terry Huggins – the joint Chief Executive of South Holland and Breckland District Councils. His most recent entry concerned a series of five public meetings – and produced some interesting findings. Among them was the conclusion that if you treat voters as adults they will respond accordingly.  Another was that people wanted reassurance that their views would be listened to – which led to some interesting discussion on the difference and tension between participative democracy and representative democracy. A third finding was that whilst the district council meetings were regarded as well attended, far more people turned out for a hyper-local meeting called to discuss the future of a building! If we thought that it might actually happen, we would like to suggest that Boston Borough Council’s leaders might benefit from noting these points!
A couple of weeks ago, we lightly chided Boston’s Labour Group Leader Councillor Paul Kenny for not wearing a tie with his suit in an official group photo of a committee that he chaired.
Perhaps we were a little too hasty, as we are prepared to forgive and forget if he promises never to wear fluorescent Day-Glo red in public again!

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