Today is the first day of Clean for the Queen – a national three-day event to rid Britain of litter ahead of HRH’s 90^th birthday on 21^st April … but not in Boston. Our stick-in-the-mud council is clinging to the usual dates for its Big Boston Clean-up from Monday April 4^th to Thursday April 7^th – which doesn’t even come close to the Queen’s other ‘official’ birthday in June. Nonetheless, Worst Street is determined to bask in the reflected glory – prattling on about “the Big Boston Clean-up this spring will be by royal appointment”  … and that it “will incorporate the nationwide campaign to clear up Britain in time for Her Majesty's 90^th  birthday.” Wrong on both counts. It’s all a bit sad, really – but the bottom line is that as in previous years, Boston will sparkle for a few days then revert to the litter-strewn wilderness that has characterised it for so long.

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As Boston’s Big Broken Promise Day nears, and paid-for garden waste collections begin, Worst Street is keen to appear helpful – but  as so often happens, without success.

Take the following as an example

This is a postcode generated guide to bin collections. Unfortunately, it features a choice between two brown garden waste bins.

One was apparently last emptied on Tuesday 23^rd February (a time when collections had not begun) and is due to be collected again two weeks later.

The other garden waste bin was last collected on Saturday 1^st January 2000 (which is well before collections began) and will next be emptied on Thursday 3^rd March.

So … is the collection day on a Tuesday, or on a Thursday? Thanks again Boston Borough Council.

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It was rather disconcerting to read that after cuts are made across the county Boston will have just four police officers working in the district. The reason, apparently, is that 17 officers and sergeants are being taken off the streets to deal with “serious crime” – child sexual exploitation, cybercrime and missing persons. The policing of Boston has become a  bad joke – and the idea that in a town which regularly sees major violent crime on the streets, officers should be moved behind a desk to deal with “serious” crime is the none-too-funny punch line.

Lincolnshire’s outgoing Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Hardwick – whose departure may be no bad thing – tries to justify these cuts by saying: “Our on-going aim is to continue to reduce and detect crime and ensure that Lincolnshire remains one of the safest places to live in the country.”  This follows criticism in four official reports – against a backdrop of rising violent crime which the police tried to pass off  to look like a fall. The best the force clings to is a claim of giving value for money – which merely means doing what it can with insufficient finance.

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On this page a couple of weeks ago we reported attendance problems for two Tory councillors due to their work taking them outside the area. 

This prompted one of them – Councillor Doctor Gordon Gregory – to write to say: “I am a medical (or more specifically surgical) doctor.  I had spent much time at Pilgrim, but Pilgrim being a rural hospital only does some operations – therefore all doctors have to rotate around many hospitals so as to learn all operations.  

“I am not that far away (Nottinghamshire) and have and will attend no fewer meetings that I would if I were at Pilgrim, I have booked off time for this purpose. 

“In fact since being elected in May, and being on monthly Health Scrutiny Committees, six-weekly other committees and full council, I have only missed one meeting (I was on call at Pilgrim in theatre.)”

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Speaking of attendances, we’re told that Monday’s full council meeting saw two former councillors who were ousted last year in attendance, and a third of no real former political persuasion who got kicked out in 2011. Apparently, the Tories have even gone so far as to nominate candidates for the Lincolnshire County Council election next year. Whilst  keenness begins with a K, so does kamikaze.

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Although we are sure that there is unlikely to be a dry eye in the chamber when this year’s mayor Richard Austin pulls his chain off for the last time, we have to remark that every cloud has a silver lining.

For most of his year in office, pole position on the Worst Street website has been dominated by the headline BOSTON - A Great Past and a Bright Future beneath which Councillor Austin invited everyone to write a few words to describe what they like best about the area.

The outcome was a list of comments from 25 people – many of them not only members of the great and the good of Boston (the usual suspects) but employees at West Street to boot. Later the borough told us that “more have risen to the challenge” and added another four names.

We suppose that Councillor Austin’s enthusiastic efforts to get someone to say something nice about Boston ought to be applauded – but instead they have just made him look silly, and it is a relief to see the idea relegated to the FIFI section of the borough’s website … File It, Forget It.

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Councillor Austin’s departure will see the arrival of Councillor Stephen Woodliffe as the 482^nd mayor – and also his departure from the cabinet where he holds the portfolio for environmental health, community safety and emergency planning among other things. This was confirmed to us a couple of months ago when we were told that it was down  to the so-called leader ‘Nipper’ Bedford to decide how to manage the regulatory services portfolio, since when nothing more has been heard. Does this mean that he is strapped for choice rather than spoiled for it? Whoever is takes on a relatively significant role such as this needs time to get up to speed – and that time is running out.

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Speaking of important new jobs – has Worst Street appointed a newly created £65,000 a year “Head of Service Economic Development and Growth” to provide “strategic, visionary and organisational leadership in all aspects of inward investment, growth and wider regeneration and economic development for the borough?”   We ask because the appointment was due to have been made more than a week ago – and the holder of a job of such importance (not to mention cost) it something we hope would be shared with the people who will be footing the bill. But then, this is Worst Street.

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We salute an imaginative step by East Lindsey District Council to abandon charges in ten car parks – including some in Louth, Spilsby and Horncastle.

Council Leader Craig Leyland, is quoted as saying: "We've listened carefully to the messages we've received from local people, the business community and town and parish councils and I'm pleased the district council is able to reintroduce free parking again in some of its car parks.

"We are clear that we want businesses to thrive and this council will continue to work hard to support them to grow and prosper."

Are you listening, Worst Street? Is anyone there? Knock once for yes, twice for no.

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That twice yearly event which local newspapers dread has come round again – the Audit Bureau of Circulation figures that show how they’re doing. The Boston Standard’s parent company refused to take part some years ago at a time when the readership was in free-fall. But the figures for the period July to December 2015 show the Boston Target shifting 8,456 copies – although they do not include a year-on-year comparison. Still, secrecy cannot hide a trend. The last time these papers were brave enough to issue complete figures was in 2012, when the Boston Standard reported sales of 7,684 … down 12.4% and the Target had a circulation of 14,121 … a fall of 8.1%. On this basis the Standard circulation must now be calculable using fingers and a few toes!

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Our MP Matt Warman is nothing if not enthusiastic when it comes to getting involved in things – but for once, we think that he let his keenness run away with him.

 

Speaks for itself, doesn’t it?

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Despite our comments last week, the Boston Beano keeps indifferently bob-bob-bobbing along. Content between Monday and Thursday began with a piece dated 29^th February, reporting the formation of a Hanse committee following a public meeting held on the 11^th – almost three weeks earlier, and nothing to do with Worst Street. Wednesday’s edition told us why we shouldn’t put garden waste in our green bin after an inquiry from a resident. It turned out that the question was asked in last week’s Boston Target and was followed this week by a response from Councillor Mike (“we will never charge to collect green waste”)  Brookes – and used in full without naming him in Boston Beano. Yesterday – although vaguely relevant, Worst Street found yet another reason to hark back to the floods of 2013. If Boston Beano was produced in print you might think that it would make a handy firelighter. But it wouldn’t – it’s far too soggy.

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The ever changing face of Boston continues. We note that a recent planning application is to change the use of the ground floor of the former County Council Annex in Church Close into shops and a café, and to turn the first second and third floors into nine residential units. Another café. Oh joy. Mind you, it could have been worse – we could be getting another mobile ‘phone shop, betting shop, charity shop or nail bar.

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 Finally, we celebrate something of a milestone for us – and doubtless a millstone for many at Worst Street.  Boston Eye this week enters its 10^th year of publication. Thanks to all our loyal readers – some of whom have followed us from the start, and the new readers who are joining us every week.

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We’ll be back next week on Tuesday.

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 

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