There are two sides to every story – or one if you are Boston Borough Council.

Last Thursday’s Illuminate celebration – we won’t bother mentioning Christmas … even Worst Street put the word in quotation marks – was an unparalleled success according to the powers that be.

Words such as “spectacular,” “excitement,” “vocal joy,” and “wonderful” peppered the borough account.

Boston’s town centre Majordomo Councillor Paul Skinner, called the evening "great."

He added: “It shows what can happen when Boston puts its mind to it – we know how to party."

We also heard how the Mayor received “a massive yell of confirmation” when he declared Boston to be "the best town in the world."

But the people footing the bill for the event saw things rather differently.

More than 70 readers of the Boston Standard posted their views on the paper’s Facebook feed in very short order – and almost to a person, they panned the event.

• I've lived here most my life, and at 41 I must say this is the worst effort I've ever seen for Christmas lights in Boston. It was a waste of my time going into town last night. Never again if this is it!
• Thank god I didn't drag my kids into town in the cold hardly magical is it!!!
• Total embarrassment. The council should hold their heads in shame!
• How tragic!
• What a load of rubbish
• What a joke Boston council is

If you involve hundreds of kids in event, you will always get crowds – but once the parade was over, many critics declared that everything went flat.

The whole event had a semi-pagan look about it – with photos that could either have been taken in Boston Market place or at Up Helly Aa.

We understand that the day began with early activity in the Market Place, because the lights had not been hung on the tree at that late stage.

Mid-afternoon we ventured into town – lured by the promised of a “Christmas Market” and were disappointed to find little more than a glorified array of charity tombola stalls.

We didn’t return for the evening’s events – and by all accounts saved ourselves a wasted journey.

Next year, we wonder whether Christmas will even get a mention.

Last year the spoils between celebrating American Thanksgiving and Christmas were more or less divided.

This year Thanksgiving – which commemorates a celebration by the Pilgrims Fathers after their first harvest in the New World in 1621 – dominated the day.

Next year, we expect Christmas to be side-lined entirely.

Let’s not forget that all this nonsense is leading up to the 400^th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers’ arrival at Cape Cod.

And let us also not forget that none of these first colonists came from Boston – their arrival to establish our American namesake began a decade and more later as part of a drive by the Massachusetts Bay Company to encourage colonisation … a far less risky affair that the ordeal endured by the real Pilgrim Fathers.

Check out Sunday’s timely BBC documentary about the voyage of the Mayflower – Boston doesn’t get a mention.

There is also the matter of cost – and of who carries the can in future years.

B-TACKy – Worst Street’s town centre committee – is allocating up to £35,000 towards the cost of all this through an unfair council tax top up imposed on roughly half the people  living in the borough which will cost them and extra £50 a year..

Versions vary – but the latest is that the lights and the none-too-successful laser projector used this year have been hired for five years and that there will be other costs of up to £8,000 a year.

B-TACky’s hope is that the extra money will come from the shadowy Boston Town Team – a do-nothing spin off from Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce.

Now that it would seem that Worst Street has guaranteed a major chunk of the “Christmas” spending, there is no real incentive on the Town Team to do anything at all, as the borough has painted itself into a corner that will see it forced to keep on paying if no-one else steps in.

Meanwhile, we read that the laser light display was intended to continue for a number of nights after Thursday’s switch on.

But it didn’t.

Why are we not surprised?

And what will we do once the 2020 Mayflower anniversary is over.

If it helps the borough’s forward planning department, there are several pagan festivals in December to which we could hitch our wagon.

Try Saturnalia on the 17^th, Eponalia the next day, Mother Night on the 20^th or Larentalia on the 23^rd.

The list is endless – who needs Christmas anyway?

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 

We are on Twitter – visit @eye_boston

One of those quarterly snapshots which ought to send shivers down the spinelessness of the Worst Street “leadership” is currently doing the rounds.

It gives an idea of the popularity of the town centre with shoppers, and tells us a bit about the number of visitors to the town.

Frankly the news is not especially good.

In terms of the town centre, the footfall figures are down by 6% on the second quarter for last year – by 151, from 2,249 to 2,278 … although some scrabbling about comes up with a different figure elsewhere, which improves the pairs of feet falling by 35.

These pedestrian counts are conducted on the third Wednesday of every month for 30 minutes at 10am and 2pm and counts only adult pedestrians excluding people on the buses.

The decline in footfall is following the national trend – but that’s no consolation at all when you realise just how few people are sampling the delights of our shopping centre.

Although it might be comparing things chalky with things cheesy, the not-too-distant Springfields centre near Spalding, claims annual footfall of 2,300,000 and is increasing rather than declining.

And before anyone shouts ‘foul’ by comparing the two, Springfields  has just 55 stores – probably about the same as the central area of Boston … many of which are outlets which used to be in the town until they closed and moved away.

***

The news was none too good on the visitor front either. Although the number of visitors to the Guildhall increased by 2% compared with the second quarter last year it stood at a meagre 5,282 compared to 5,171 … which is barely out of double figures on a daily basis.

And use of the tourist information centre – housed in the same place – was down by 13% as people viewing the tourism page on the council’s website fell by 3%.

We are promised that “a tourism project is underway which will include looking at the website offer.”

About time too.

***

As we’ve said before, the minutes of meetings – when they eventually appear – often make interesting reading.

One such example recently emerged concerning the so-called leadership’s attitude to the UKIP contingent at Worst Street.

We’ve remarked on this before, as – despite a council line-up of Conservative - 13 members, UKIP - 12, Independent - 2, Labour - 2, Unaligned – 1 – UKIP occupies no significant committee roles.

This was highlighted in a question from the party’s group leader Councillor Brian Rush who asked ‘Nipper’ Bedford: “Why did you decide to completely reject all UKIP candidates, for chairs or vice chairs, on influential panels, preferring instead to give such seats to the Conservative party’s arch enemies, Labour?”

The response from Councillor Bedford “Locally, I do not class Labour as arch enemies, but sensible councillors working together for the good of Boston.”

But just in case, he also offered the standard “a big boy did it and ran away” get-out by adding: “I did not make the appointments; it was Full Council.”

***

Clearly, this is not as simplistic as our so-called “leader” would wish us to believe.

The Tories would not enjoy their present position of control without the collusion of Labour and some so-called Independents who are Tories in everything but name.

The crucial point that is being overlooked here is that the people are supposed to matter – that’s you and us, the taxpayers – but are being ignored (well, there’s a surprise.)

Agreed, the UKIP contingent has appeared as mad as a box of frogs at times, with a disappointing performance to boot, but the fact is that the Tories have been so insistent on wreaking their own particular recipes for disaster on Boston that they would probably have done a deal with the devil to cling on to power – which is not what it should be all about.

Many Boston voters supported UKIP, and are entitled to have their wishes reflected through proportional responsibility on committees, and to see what the group might do – after  all, they couldn’t be worse than the current leadership … could they?

To declare that the two Labour members are “sensible councillors working together for the good of Boston” in the context of the question is to say that UKIP members are not doing this, and we are disappointed that our  “leader” should stoop so low as to insult his fellow councillors in the Worst Street chamber.

***

Amidst all this we hear that one of the Tory group would like to throw in the towel, but has been persuaded to hang on until county council election time next May. If the idea is to save the cost of a by-election, then to continue to pay an indifferent and disinterested councillor £350 a month for six months or more is surely just as wasteful and – again – insulting to taxpayers and voters.

Or is it because the leadership fears that a by-election now could cost them their slender hold on power?

Having said that, a quick scan of attendance by councillors at meetings suggests that more than one are borderline members of the money-for-nothing club.

Councillors may claim that their allowances are among the lowest in the country, but many of them are certainly being overpaid!

***

Against this background we learned that our “Leader” has just notched up 25 years as a councillor.

‘Nipper’ Bedford was elected in 1991 – the same year that Boris Yeltsin became president of Russia and a number of coloured spheres said to be UFOs performed an “aerial ballet” over Sibsey – and has represented  the nearby Coastal Ward ever since.

Monday’s council meeting saw him presented with a framed certificate to mark an event that he claimed to have forgotten all about.

The political upheavals of recent years mean that there are now very few long serving councillors in Worst Street.

Certainly, Boston was a much different place in 1991 – and we doubt that anyone would claim it was better now than it was then.

As one whose tenure in office has paralleled Boston’s decline, perhaps Councillor Bedford thought it better to disremember his anniversary rather than otherwise.

Still, who knows – some minor gong for tenacity might even so be in the pipeline.

***

Back to the council minutes … and a classic example of a councillor who thinks that being clever makes him a politician.

Another question – again  from Councillor Brian Rush – was to Councillor Paul Skinner ... portfolio holder of the poisoned chalice known as the town centre.

He was asked a perfectly reasonable and simple question – “where or what became of those very attractive market stalls that were purchased not so very long back?”

Instead of a perfectly reasonable and simple answer, Councillor Skinner changed his name to Alec Smart for the duration of the discussion.

“Since the beginning of the Charter, there have been a number of different stalls used, which version did you mean?”

Councillor Rush:  “Who purchased the stalls and why, and where are they?”

Councillor Skinner: “The Charter dates back to the 1600s and there have been many variations since that time. We are only partly along this journey.”

What journey is that then – and why would Councillor Skinner not answer?

Might it be because the stalls have been sold – or worse still “dumped” like the benches arbitrarily removed by B-TACky.
If so, it would be a case of history repeating itself and would not surprise us. At the time of the London Olympic celebrations Worst Street spent almost £5,000 on buying rather than hiring crowd control barriers and traffic cones – yet some time later was paying to hire barriers for another event.

Perhaps Councillor Skinner might like to relent, and let us know the answer to Councillor Rush’s question about the market stalls – but then again, perhaps he might not.

Perhaps no-one knows where they are and can’t find them.

***

Early in October the Worst Street website congratulated Councillor Aaron Spencer after he was shortlisted for the title of young councillor of the year by something called LGiU – “the local democracy think tank.”

We’d forgotten all about this until recently, and so we checked on the outcome of the nomination – only to find that Councillor Spencer … the cabinet member for cuts … had been unsuccessful.

The fact that there had been no mention of the result was typical of the Worst Street news management – if the story looks good, then publish it … if not, then pretend it never happened.

This from the council that promised “warts and all” information  – yet remains in denial over the decision to hold a public inquiry into the Boston Barrier plan … because it’s not what our leaders wanted to happen.

Interestingly one local winner at the LGiU bash was North Kesteven District Council Leader Marion Brighton, who received the Lifetime Achievement award.

The award is given to a councillor who has shown a demonstrable contribution to local government over a number of years – Councillor Brighton has notched up more than 40 – during which he or she will have contributed considerably to the development of the council and their local community.

Let’s not forget, also, that South Holland’s leader  and Chairman of the Local Government Association, Gary Porter, was last year made a life peer.

It’s good to see some of our nearby district councillors making their mark.

Perhaps it will be Boston’s turn one day soon.

***

A surprise – though not unexpected – was the news that emerged this week that the Pilgrim Party was de-registered at the beginning of the year and is no more.

Mind you, it was never anything much to begin with – a girl band with just four members at its peak, which came eighth out of nine parties at last year’s general election with just 143 votes out of the 43,339 cast.

Still, it’s always a shame when these political eccentricities vanish – though doubtless something else will emerge in 2020.

***

Back on our hobby horse now and a piece of Boston’s history that will be 500 years old next year.

In 1517 Thomas Cromwell (think Wolf Hall) was approached by Geoffrey Chambers of Boston for help in seeking an audience with Pope Leo X to secure funding for the Guild of Our Lady in St Botolph's church.

Pope Leo was threatening to end the indulgences from which the guilds and the church received large sums of money from people who wished to pay for the safety of their souls in heaven.

Cromwell deployed an audacious plan …

He "ambushed" the Pope during a stag hunt near Rome, and knowing of Leo’s sweet tooth persuaded him to change his mind by plying him with sweets and delicacies, and the guild’s finances were rescued.

This was an important event for Boston, which saved the town’s fortunes at a time when they were drying up along with the silting of the river – and the man who achieved it was one of the giants of Tudor England and British history who not only set the wheels in motion to bring parliamentary democracy to the country but also made possible the Reformation which saw Henry VIII take control of the Church.

A few days ago BBC Four TV rebroadcast historian Diarmaid MacCulloch’s 2013 BBC2 documentary “Henry VIII's Enforcer: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell”

The programme featured generous segments filmed in Boston Stump and the Guildhall together with an animated reconstruction of Cromwell’s meeting with the Pope.

Let us hope that someone somewhere has the wit to arrange for a copy of the programme to be shown in both buildings next year, and that more is made of this important event in Boston’s history.

If you missed the programme, and would like to watch it again, you can find if here

***

The nature of our blogging will be changing for a while due to a combination of events between now and mid-December. We won’t be producing our Friday miscellany, but instead will post comments on issues of interest on a one-off basis as they arise – and will let you know via our Twitter page so that you can visit the blog.

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 

We are on Twitter – visit @eye_boston

Things just don’t seem to be going well for the powers that be in Worst Street lately.

After last week’s announcement of a public inquiry into the plans for a £100 million flood barrier for Boston,  something that the leadership – especially  ‘Nipper’ Bedford – was anxious to avoid, comes  bad news about what Bedford has called “the only game in town” … the creation of a “super-Lincolnshire” governed by an elected mayor.

It would now appear to be a case of “match postponed” after Lincolnshire County Council Leader Martin Hill said that he would honour the 43:17 vote against devolution taken by County Hall and not support the multi-million scheme.

He is quoted as saying: "Since county councillors voted, I have discussed the issues again with the government, but was told that a mayor is still regarded as a ‘must’.

"In considering my position on the deal, I have absolutely at the forefront of my mind the views of the 4,000-plus residents who took part in the recent consultation.

"Although 59% of respondents said our councils should pursue greater funding and powers from the Government, 49% opposed the idea of a Mayoral Combined Authority, compared to the 47% in favour.

"I share their concerns about a directly elected mayor, with all the extra costs involved.

"With such a strong vote against the proposal from county councillors across all political parties too, I am minded not to support a directly elected mayor for the region based on what is currently on offer."

***

‘Nipper’s’ view by contrast appears to be that anything that provides Boston Borough Council with money for nothing is a good idea – rather than sitting down with his henchpersons and coming up with some real leadership and some tangible ideas.

Since the Tories were handed the keys to the Worst Street council chamber by the Bypass Independents five and a half years ago, they have simply bowed to the demands of head office time and again – cutting service after service without ever looking at ways to try to introduce new money into the town, or even trying to fight the rot that has steadily been setting in.

All of which makes ‘Nipper’ not a “leader” but a “follower”

***

Worse still, Boston seems slowly to be dying without any efforts at resuscitation from the powers that be.

Monday saw the news that the town’s Marks and Spencer store might well be on the list of those to be closed as the company looks to regroup.

The list  was compiled by retail analysts the Local Data Company, whose director Matthew Hopkinson said whilst there were 35 towns or cities with more than one store, others “vulnerable because the town centre is already in serious decline”  included Blackpool, Bolton, Boston, Hereford, Mansfield, Stoke and Sunderland.

Meanwhile, at the weekend at sign appeared in the window of the town’s Clarks shoe shop, saying: “We're closing late November but you can still shop with us. For your nearest Clarks store please visit www.clarks.co.uk."

This comes less than six months after Clarks opened a brand new £150,000 shop in Gainsborough – of all places.

The closure also comes three months after we were told that Boston Borough Council was “helping Clarks explore other options in the town.”

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Earlier this week we walked from the Town Bridge through Emery Lane where – after the dismal Cash Generator windows – we found empty store after empty store … whilst those that hadn’t closed completely were still shut well after normal opening hours.

This medieval street – together with Dolphin Lane – is regularly touted by Worst Street optimists as a haven for small independent shops, and has in the past been likened to the similar lanes that draw visitors to York in their millions each year. 

***

We think that one of the big problems is that much of the commercial property in Boston may well be in the hands of absentee landlords.

A recent planning application for a major town centre shop disclosed that the owner/applicant was based in North London.

And again we are indebted to the satirical magazine Private Eye for its list of UK properties owned by companies in offshore tax havens.

In Boston these include: 22, Strait Bargate, which belongs to the Galante corporation of the Netherlands Antilles; 17b, Wide Bargate (Suleiman Capital Corp, British Virgin Islands, registered in 2005 and bought for £877,565); 94, to 102 (even), West Street Retail Park, (BNP Paribas securities services trust company, Jersey, registered 2010 and bought for £5,195,852) Sleaford Road Medical Centre, Boston West Business Park (Medicx Properties VI Ltd Guernsey, registered 2012 and bought for

£3,212,104); Malcolm Farm, Frith Bank (Madox Holdings, Guernsey, registered 2010 and bought for  £1,150,000.)

Even the smallest places are not immune – to whit Haltoft End Service Station – acquired by Silversmith Holdings Inc of the British Virgin Islands in 2006 for £119,000.

***

Is it any wonder, then, that we have so many neglected empty shops when they are merely a tiny entry on a big balance sheet, and not worth selling because a tenant will appear eventually?

Tell that to the owners of the former Millets and Edinburgh Woollen Mill Shop.

And when the QD store in Strait Bargate closed, a company spokesman said: “We came up to negotiate a fresh rent position with the landlord and unfortunately were not able to come up with a commercially viable solution.

“We did present some proposals to the landlord but frankly they turned them down.”

The premises are now being advertised for  rental at £195,000 a year – or £16,250 a month … exclusive of business rates, which could be as much again.

Not only that, the property comes with a new 15 year lease with “reviews” (i.e. increases) every three years and with the tenant paying the cost of all insurance and repairs.

***

At the start of this week’s little effort, we mentioned Boston Borough Council’s turning of a blind eye to the news of the barrier inquiry.

Last week we could but speculate – but have since had it confirmed that whilst at least one of our local “newspapers” did seek a comment, it was “directed” to “speak directly with the Environment Agency.”

This from a council which claims to pride itself on “openness and transparency.”

Surely, a request to respond to a decision affecting a crucial local project – one which the council had insisted should not be delayed by such trivia as an investigation to see if it was fit for purpose – ought to have generated a formal reply.

Not in Worst Street!

***

Last week we mentioned one of our favourite committees – B-TACky, which exists solely to make life even more miserable for taxpayers who live in the town centre – when it actually sat back and listened to an idea to create a cycle path alongside the bus route that it currently ruining Strait Bargate.

Now it is working on another Cunning Plan.

In support of a desire to “see a reduction in the quantity of grassed areas which are closely mown” – i.e. reduce grass cutting to save money – committee members are thinking of converting unused space into “a more naturalised area” which is allowed to grow … with planting of  fruit trees and wild flowers to enhance the  areas. Not only that, but “additional benches, outdoor exercise equipment and basketball hoops” have also been suggested.

All of this is being discussed at a time when areas of Central Park are being further massacred to reduce opportunities for shrubbery to be used as a lavatory or hiding place in which to drink.

Only a few days ago, Worst Street told us that grounds staff have also removed shrubbery from around a bench near the sorting office in South End where there had been "constant complaints about street drinkers congregating and leaving drink-related litter behind.”

Mention of benches reminds us that four and a half years ago B-TACky was busy tearing up benches all over town to stop them being used as al fresco bars.

At a rough count, at least 30 benches were removed in the fruitless battle on anti-social activity in Boston – and now the council is thinking of reinstating such seating in these proposed areas of bucolic bliss.

Even now, we can scent disaster in the making in the same way that sharks can smell blood in the water.

Benches … fruit trees … wildflowers …

Such temptation.

And the cost of buying new benches must certainly go a long way toward  diminishing the saving in mowing the grass – which of course will become even more attractive to people who let their dogs foul such open spaces.

And don’t imagine that Worst Street will have been prudent enough to keep the scores of benches they ripped out in case they were needed for a rainy day.

Sometime after the seats were removed in their scores, an approach for some to be relocated on a local allotment was dismissed on the grounds that they had all been “dumped.”

We are quite sure that this doesn’t mean sold for their scrap value – rather “dumped” on someone who would himself make money by doing what the council couldn’t be bothered to do!

***

The retired hack in us cannot resist the lure of a potentially big news story.  So, as we returned from our Sunday shop and found that a major police operation had closed Freiston Road and Main Ridge, we Tweeted the news and copied it to the editor of the Boston sub-Standard – which we joined for a brief time as a reporter half-a-century ago this year.

Back came the reply: “Will ask the weekend team to have a look into it” – and so we waited with interest.

Sometime later a “report” on the Standard website rehashed our Tweet in a somewhat sceptical way and said that the police would not reveal more as the operation was on-going. “Updates” were promised.

Eventually, we suggested to the Standard that for “updates” they would do worse than visit the Boston off-Target which had sourced the entire story – including pictures – from social media, whilst the Standard weekend “team” apparently twiddled its thumbs.

In terms of police activity in Boston, this was clearly a mega incident.

All those years ago, word would have reached the Standard and – fate forefend in 2016 – someone would have been sent out to take a look … together with a photographer.

The Target did what most papers  do these days – cobble together tweets and pictures from the public domain, whilst the Standard weekend “team” couldn’t even manage that.

It’s been said that Boston town centre is in a serious decline.

It’s also said that that thriving local newspapers are synonymous with a thriving town.

Enough said. 

***

Last week we listed the then known candidates for  next month’s  Sleaford and North Hykeham by election – made less interesting by the  climb-down of former Boston election contender Robin Hunter-Clarke.

The UKIP candidate is now that well-known “I’ll stand anywhere where you might vote for me” wannabee Victoria Ayling – perhaps because she was the only Kipper left who wanted the job

The full list of candidates is:

Victoria Ayling – UKIP

David Bishop – Bus Pass Elvis Party

Jim Clarke – Labour

Paul Coyne – Independent

Peter Hill The Iconic Arty Pole – Monster Raving Loony Party

Caroline Johnson – Conservative

Marianne Overton – Lincolnshire Independents

Ross Pepper – Liberal Democrats

Sarah Stock – Independent

Mark Suffield – Independent. 

***

Finally, in common with local councils everywhere, Boston spent the day Tweeting its activities as part of an event called Our Day.

This involved such riveting details as opening the park gates in the morning and locking them at night, and opening the council offices and closing them at night and … are you awake there? Pay attention!

Of course, we weren’t supposed to read all this as – a long time ago – we were barred from reading the council’s tweets or from following it.

Such a serious step usually follows improper behaviour of some sort – but in our case we have only ever visited the page and never posted any comments … which makes the action one of petty and insecure spitefulness merely because we dare to criticise Worst Street in our blog.

Nonetheless, we managed to follow the day, which at some points was padded out with non-council stuff just to make it seem busier.

There was also such helpful information as: “The Leader of the Council is currently attending a GLLEP ESIF sub-committee meeting discussing applications under EU funding.”

That’s good to know. We hope that alphabet soup was on the lunchtime menu.

We also heard that IT equipment was being set up “for tonight’s council meeting” and that the caretaker had locked up for the day after it concluded.

Did this meeting really take place? 

Not according to the council’s own calendar which showed no-meetings scheduled for  Tuesday 15^th. Perhaps the day didn’t look exciting enough – or could our “open and transparent” council be hiding meetings from us? Fate forfend!

***

But just to demonstrate a sense of humour, Worst Street tweeted the picture below – beneath the message “Stand-off in Boston Cemetery. Magpie comes beak to nose with a resident squirrel.”

Twitchers among you will doubtless  be as disappointed as we were at the absence of the magpie.

  

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 

We are on Twitter – visit @eye_boston

We’re in the season of trick or treat ... and Boston Borough Council has entered the spirit of things by treating us like idiots to try to trick us into believing that everything in the borough garden is blooming.

Last week saw the announcement that the government intended to hold a public inquiry into plans for the £100 million Boston Barrier – something that a spokesman for the project said was: “… part of the application process and an important opportunity for people to have their say.”

Despite the obvious democratic aspects to such a decision – concerns have been raised by local fishermen and others about the siting of the barrier amongst other things – the inquiry will not be regarded as good news by the powers that be in Worst Street … especially the so-called “leader” Pete ‘Nipper’ Bedford.

The intention of the barrier is to reduce the risk of tidal flooding to approximately 900 commercial properties and 14,300 residential properties in Boston – and our “leaders” seem to believe that the work should begin as soon as possible … regardless.

***

Almost a year ago, ‘Nipper’ used his Royal Christmas Broadcast to berate any gainsayers.

“I have been disturbed to read that some local unelected politicians have gone into print to ask, at this late stage, for an in-depth public inquiry into the finer detail of the barrier project,” he wrote.

The piece appeared to confuse concern about the viability of the barrier itself with plans for add-ons – dismissed as “bells and whistles” which would maintain a constant high water level through the town which would open the way to tourism benefits.

“The priority, now and here and in these cash-strapped times, is whatever we can get which works to protect against flooding as soon as we can get it.”

***

But should this mean that we must have a barrier regardless of any health checks?
At the end of his plea to avoid delaying the project, 'Nipper' said: "Flooding can happen anytime. God forbid that we should have a repeat of 2013 before 2019. God forbid that we should have a repeat in 2019 and the barrier is not in place because of avoidable delays."
He did not ask what people might say if the barrier was built without precautionary checks and balances and turned out to be ineffective or wrongly located.

Boston Borough Council has a track record of wasting public money … something that the government seems to wish to avoid through a detailed inspection of the project.

But in our leader’s world this is unthinkable – and so the council adopted a blind eye approach that would have made Nelson appear to have had 20:20 vision.

The barrier inquiry was announced on Thursday of last week – and made big headlines locally, as you might expect.

But the Worst Street website – normally a haven for anything that mentions the Boston word regardless of relevance – has made no mention of the inquiry.
At the time of going to press yesterday, nothing had appeared –  not even on the lamentably poor weekly bulletin ... which once promised us "warts and all" coverage.
Nor did either of our local "newspapers" carry a comment from 'Nipper' or anyone else at Worst Street. They probably didn't like to ask –  even though a question was clearly needed.

Instead, Worst Street adopted some of the most pathetic diversionary tactics we have seen for a while to snatch some sort of victory from the jaws of defeat …

*** 

Beneath the headline “Welcome to Boston,” last Friday’s website trumpeted: “A new gateway to Boston is taking shape, demonstrating a welcome to a town which is developing in an exciting and vibrant way.”

It flannelled on: “Those travelling on the A16 are already greeted by modern business premises before reaching the new roundabout at Wyberton with the promise of new development on both sides of the main road.

“There will shortly be new residential and commercial development on one side and a new community-centred football stadium on the other.”

This of course the famous Quadrant project – which is scarcely new, but which has been turned into a convenient peg for the council to hang its battered hat upon.

“Construction work has been continuing apace for the past few weeks and now sets the scene for Boston's new quarter, presenting a new face for those arriving to do business, shop, use leisure facilities and live here.” The foam-flecked page goes on to explain that the new road will relieve some of the traffic which currently crosses Boston town centre – although similar rat runs already exist – and open up land for 146 new homes and commercial use.

The other side of the new road will lead to Boston United’s proposed new stadium. The new A16 approach is “heralded” by two new commercial premises at Kirton - the Sports Bike Shop, and a new showroom for Duckworth Jaguar and Land Rover.

Enter ‘Nipper’ – a man who in the past has got excited about the opening of a butcher’s shop in the town …

"All of this signals a bright future for Boston and demonstrates the confidence that business have in the area."

***

This overlooks the lack of confidence shown in recent times by retailers such as Morrison’s, Brantano, Clarks shoe shop, Tesco’s One Stop Shop on Bargate,  and QD Stores – all of whom have either shut up shop or are planning to.

How on earth can these counterbalance the expansion of two long established local companies?

There is so little for ‘Nipper’ to cleave to that he grasps the slightest straws – which in this case appear to have been used to deflect our attention from the announcement regarding the Boston Barrier.

***

An early morning dog walker in Garfits Park got a shock on Saturday morning when he spotted a couple doing what comes naturally in the front seat of a car – parked beneath a CCTV camera!

Worse still was the realisation that a carful of men …“well intoxicated, even the drivers of the vehicles,” was parked nearby – apparently waiting patiently to take their turn.

The police were called and turned up – shortly after which another car full of men arrived.

The outcome? “The police gave the two having sex when they arrived a caution and let the others drive away. No-one was done for drink driving.”

This laissez faire approach by the police is unacceptable.

It not long since Boston Borough Council was trumpeting the spending of more than £15,000 on play equipment for Garfits Park to make the area more attractive to children.

Quite how all but turning a blind eye to what appears to be a mobile brothel service in the park fits with that ambition is anyone’s guess.

Needless to say, the Boston Target managed to trivialise the story on its website – as our screenshot below shows.

Yet another of those “stock” photos that have little or no relevance to the report, and serve only to make the publisher look stupid.

***

We mentioned earlier Boston’s expertise where wasting money is concerned.

A couple of months ago we  had the Family Beach Fun day in Central Park, which involved bussing in a pile of sand and some donkeys for a couple of days.

According to its website, “the event was sponsored by Boston Big Local, delivered by Boston Borough Council, and supported by partner agencies Mayflower Housing, Boston Children’s Centre, Transported Arts and Boston United in the Community.”

If Boston Big Local “sponsored” the event, could someone please explain then why a recent account of Worst Street’s spending included £5,150 from the revenue budget for the “construction of beach in park” plus £700 to hire four donkeys for two days and £500 for bouncy castle hire and – the last two appearing under the unlikely heading “sports development.”

***

Then of course, there’s the simple expedient of blinding people with science, as the answer to a question that appeared in a set of minutes admirably demonstrated.

So … the boilers will save £1 million over 20 years which is £50k a year.

Previous costs were £200k a year. So, over 20 years and excluding inflation the cost will be £4 million – without taking the cost of the biomass into account, apparently.

At the very best, this appears to save a few thousand a year – so where is the “quick payback” mentioned?

Presumably the hope is that many councillors don’t understand a word of this, but because it has been said by an officer, accept it as fact.

***

This would not surprise us, given some news about the attitude some councillors have taken towards paying their council tax.

A Freedom of Information survey by the satirical magazine Private Eye showed that three councillors had to be reminded that their council tax was overdue.

Fortunately, the matter ended there as the recalcitrant members apparently paid up – but in term of civic responsibility, such a situation should never have arisen.

However, things might have been worse, as the colour key to the map shows …

Our neighbours to the north in East Lindsey summonsed councillors for non-payment, and just over the border, Kings Lynn and West Norfolk council barred some members from voting.

We don’t know what the score is with our southern neighbour, South Holland, as their lack of co-operation meant that no information could be made available.

What, we wonder, are they trying to hide?

***

As Benjamin Franklin almost said in 1789 “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and council tax.”

But at least councillors have a small advantage over many of the poorer members of the community in that as well as an income from either work or pension sources, they also receive an allowance for what they do – or in some cases don’t do.

The basic allowance is £4,400 a year with further money for additional responsibilities –  at the top of the pile “leader” ‘Nipper’ gets an extra £8,070. These figures – and many others – are available in a new app produced by the Taxpayers’ Alliance and tell is that in 2014-15 the total bill for councillors was a stonking £101.612.

***

Another  interesting entry in the TPA list  tells us that Boston Borough Council owns 506 “items of art”  valued at just over half a million pounds – but that only 29 of them are on display.

Perhaps the reason why so few are accessible is because after spending £1 million on an art gallery – remember the “big glass box of art and artefacts” – the council closed it because it could afford to run it.

***

Next month’s surprise by-election for Sleaford and North Hykeham is bringing wannabes galore out of the woodwork – and they run the full gamut of the political spectrum.

So far, we have learned that Conservative County Councillor Richard ‘Bob the Builder’ Davies  has thrown his hard hat into the ring, and whilst there has been no news of other Tories interested in defending a majority of almost 24,000, a decision was being made last night..
Meanwhile, Labour has already selected local man Jim Clarke, North Kesteven District Councillor Mark Suffield has declared as an Independent, and Peter Hill is standing for the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Ukippers are falling over themselves in the rush.

Leadership hopeful Suzanne Evans has shown her interest in the seat along with Victoria Ayling – an East Lindsey councillor and one-time Tory general election candidate who switched parties and most recently failed to win the role of police and crime commissioner for Lincolnshire.

But perhaps more interestingly for us were the ambitions of Robin Hunter-Clarke – who came second at last year’s general election for the Boston and Skegness constituency.

Like The Terminator, Hunter-Clarke – a Lincolnshire County Councillor and one-time Tory – pledged that he would be back to fight in 2020 … but then vanished to Wales where he took on a UKIP administrative role. Last week he contested a seat on Gibbonsdown council in the Vale of Glamorgan where he came fifth out of seven candidates with 6.4% of the vote – just 54 ‘x’s in the box.

After a weekend of cliffhanging Tweets of the "will I, won't I, should I, shouldn't I..." persuasion,  Mr H-C  announced his decision to stand – and then yesterday lunchtime "after discussion with family and friends" decided "it is not the right time for me to seek election to this parliament in this by-election.
Our Political Correspondent, Egon Faice, said: "One has to admire a candidate who doesn't tease or pussyfoot around, but unfortunately, Mr Hunter-Clark isn't one."

We shall be watching the space with interest. 
Nominations for the seat close next Tuesday and by-election day is Thursday 8^th December.

***

Some recent minutes shed an interesting light on the official approach to a couple of big issues in Boston – street drinking and cycling in pedestrian areas.

A visit from Boston Policing Inspector Andy Morrice to B-TACky – the Boston Town Area Committee – revealed that the police had succeeded curbing drinking in the Market Place, but not in Red Lion Street, where there were also reports of drug-taking.

The big surprise was that whenever the police arrived to move miscreants on … they returned a few minutes later once the people in blue departed.

The same problem occurred with people warned for cycling in the town centre who simply remounted and rode off once the police had turned their backs.

But the best excuse of all for twiddling the constabulary’s thumbs was that “it was difficult to prosecute someone for cycling through an area that buses were allowed to drive through.”

We’re sure that would be acceptable if we tried to drive our car through Strait Bargate!

One possible solution was equally unhelpful – a cycle path beside the bus route, indicated by double white lines.

Surely, the easoer answer is to ban pedestrians from the pedestrian area so that they no longer impede the flow of traffic.

*** 

Finally, does any of the following sound familiar to you?

“Issues with the paving have included people finding it hard to distinguish between the path and road surface, pedestrians falling, and sections breaking and sinking because of the weight of buses.”

Whilst this may sound like Boston’s Market Place, the quote came from a Grimsby newspaper which reported that North East Lincolnshire Council  is to replace controversial block paving in Grimsby's town centre with tarmac.

The brick-style covering had been the subject of much debate since it was laid in December 2013 as part of a massive £6 million town centre transformation plan.

How long before Lincolnshire County Council follows suit in the mess that we now call Boston Market Place?

Certainly a close look at the surface in Strait Bargate suggests that the day when a bus creates a sinkhole  in the drainage system cannot be far away.

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