With great sense, the small group of people interested
enough to vote said that whilst they favoured the idea of district councils in
the so-called Greater Lincolnshire area working together, they weren’t keen on
the idea of appointing an expensive elected mayor to oversee the new “county.”
However, whilst the joint approach was declared by Boston
Borough Council among others as “generally positive” the vote rejecting an elected mayor was
dismissed as generating “no definitive view.” Whatever it lacked in strength,
it was nonetheless a disapproving majority – but the reaction suggests that
this opinion will be ridden over roughshod in favour of an elected post. What
is it about these petty minded power holders that make them obsessed with
swelling their ranks even further?
***
Another cherry-picking reaction came from Lincolnshire’s
Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones. “A shame only 4,000
Lincolnshire residents (population of Heckington parish) responded … Glad
majority against combined Mayor PCC role.” This is an interesting response. We
suspect that had only 4,000 people voted in the PCC contest and given Mr Jones
a majority, he might have muttered a word of two of disappointment at the
turnout, but still claimed victory. When we responded to his Tweet by saying: “Your
gladness not surprising. But votes for PCC showed majority felt it was not needed
either!” – answer came there none!” This is known as having your cake and eating it!
Earlier this week Mr Jones marked his first hundred days as our
Chief Keystone Cop with a live webchat on the Lincolnite website. The first we knew of it was afterwards, so we
have no idea about the content. Hmmm.
***
Co-incidentally, the underlying enthusiasm for yet another
tier of political figureheads coincided with the Boundary Commission’s announcement
that the number of county council seats in Lincolnshire will fall by seven to a
total of 70. Boston will have six members – one fewer than at present … with
seats named Boston Coastal, North, Rural, South, West and Skirbeck. Worst
Street claims that things will remain the same – but somewhere along the line
we will have one less councillor – though given their performance at county
level, we aren’t sure that this matters much.
***
As all this was happening, through our door came “an update
on some of the work that your county councillors have been doing locally on
your behalf.” Essentially, it was a promo for the UKIP coterie Ransome – and reported “achievements” as long ago as March
last year. Much of it involved giving way money from the “Big Society Fund” which is a County Hall
kitty for members who want to look good. The newsletter was from UKIP’s political family comprising Sue, Felicity and
Lizzie Ransome. If we were producing a local version of Mary Poppins, we might
be drawn to the idea of a tune called “Sukipfelilizzifragilisticexpialidocious.”
***
Still, at least our Kippers are showing willing. There was a
time that more councillors were keen to let us know what they were doing – but
this is now sadly not the case. Regular newsletters from individuals have now
all but disappeared – including one that could once be relied upon regularly – and
even the Labour group at Worst Street has let its blog die in the water.
***
Coming up with a zingy word for some of our Ukippers,
reminded us that we ought perhaps to consider a more appropriate name for Worst
Street’s so-called “leader” Pete ‘Nipper’ Bedford … now that his local status
has been equated with that of the prime minister. How does Peteresa Maybe
strike you?
***
It’s almost impossible to believe after all these years we have now only just reached a point where the Environment Agency has asked the Secretary of State to grant powers to construct and operate the Boston Barrier through a Transport and Works Act Order. TWAO documents will now be made available to interested parties and members of the public to comment over the coming six weeks. If it ever happens – and we still have doubts – the barrier scheme will become “part of a phased approach” to reduce the risk of tidal flooding to approximately 14,300 properties in Boston over the next 100 years.
Biblical sources suggest that it took Noah between 100 and 120 years to build the Ark. These days in Boston such a task looks as though it might take even longer – and without the work being done as first intended at the end of it! At present, the barrier represents the tomorrow that never comes. Although we are sure that earlier dates have been quoted, December 2019 is now the favoured operational date.
***
The drivel goes on about dealing with street drinking
problems in Boston and a scheme to tackle alcohol-related issues. Yet another “first” if it happens will be the
Community Alcohol Partnership (CAP) which could involve all the usual suspects
and be operational as early as next month. We've lost count of how many "initiatives" have now unsuccessfully been adopted to curb Boston's drinking problem. We read about this latest one a couple of days
before we turned from Wide Bargate into Norfolk Street to find our path blocked
by more than half a dozen young men all of whom were swilling extra strong
lager from cans. The time was soon after 9-30 a.m. We might have discussed
these habits with them – except that unfortunately, no-one in the group appeared
to be able to master English.
***
If residents of East Lindsey are “consulted” in the same way
as those of Boston, then they will be seeing a rise in their garden waste
collection charges from £30 to £60 after fewer than half of bin users failed to
sign up to the scheme. ELDC’s argument is that it needs to balance the books –
failing to take into account that such a move might well cause more people to
end their collections. Here in Boston – where Worst Street repeatedly lied when
it promised free collection and then wriggled out of that promise – we have no
information whether the take-up covers the cost, although we were initially
praised for saving the council so much money. Our guess is that Worst Street
will soon be making a similar claim to our neighbour and the moment it increases
prices (Boston is never bold enough to do anything first) a similar sob story
will come our way – followed by higher charges. We note that in January next
year an agenda item for the Environment and Performance Committee "work" programme will include an “annual update” on garden waste collection. Watch
this space, as they say.
***
We hear that the so-called “leadership” at Worst Street is
sticking to the theory that the old songs are the best when it comes to making
political excuses. Unbelievably, one that was trotted out recently sought to
blame the BBI for the parlous state of the borough’s finances five years after
the Bypassers were voted out. The excuse is that the BBI handed the reins to
the Worst Street officers, and that – so
far – the current administration has been unable to wrest them back … which
says much about the quality of the
people who claim to be in charge.
***
Doubtless hats will be flying through the air after a
government grant was approved for a new £29 million bus station and car park in
Lincoln. It adds to the panoply of transport delights including a proposed eastern
bypass, and in a few more decades, will see a complete bypass for the city. With
no sense of irony, transport minister Andrew Jones said: "Better transport
facilities don't just help people get around, they help them get on – connecting
them to jobs, opportunities and helping deliver economic growth."
Would
that our inept local politicians had the nerve to quote those words back to him
in the context of Boston!
***
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Our former blog is archived at:
http://bostoneyelincolnshire.blogspot.com
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