Tongues will be wagging in Worst Street this morning
after a major political volte face by
former Labour Councillor and deputy group leader Nigel Welton – who has quit
the party and applied to join the Conservatives.
Councillor Welton represents Fenside ward –
which he won in 2015 – and is Chairman of the Boston Town Area Committee and Vice-Chairman
of Environment and Performance Committee.
There were four candidates for the two Fenside seats,
and he won the ballot by just one vote – 443 against 442 collected by a Conservative
rival.
***
In one sense, this change of horses in midstream should
make little difference in political terms.
Councillor Welton told Boston Eye: “I’m in the middle of both parties anyway – I’m on the
right of the Labour Party and probably on the left of the Tory party, so it
doesn’t really matter which badge I’ve got on so long as I do the job.”
He was a Labour councillor in Hull in the mid-1990s
then left around 1998 and only re-joined the party just before the last
elections on May 2015.
So is he worried about any political backlash from
Worst Street council chamber colleagues?
“I’m not really bothered what people say, to be
honest, I’ve got a job to do. It’s about getting on with the work, the things
that need doing, need doing … and politically, they can say what they like, but
I’m a politician so have got a thick skin.”
What if his change of parties led to calls for his
resignation and a by-election?
“They can do what they want; I’m not all that
bothered to be honest. I’ve got an agenda and know what I need to do, and I
just want to get on with it really.”
Of his role
on BTAC, he added: “We’ve got until April to try to get as much going and doing
as we can then it’s up to the committee to decide whether they want me to stay
or not.
“They can put a motion of no confidence, they can do
what they want – at the end of the day it doesn’t affect what I do. I think
that the more people that shout at me, the more determined I am to make it
happen!”
***
Whilst there will doubtless be noises for a
resignation – simply because there always are – we think there is nothing much
to fear, given that such calls have frequently been made in the past, as long
ago as the days of the By-pass Independents, and always gone unheeded.
Frankly, it’s heartening to find a councillor who
puts his ambitions to make Boston a better place ahead of politics – which is a
fault of so many of his colleagues.
***
Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid
Javid has said that ‘non-mayoral combined authorities’ in rural areas might be
allowed as part of a new devolution framework.
At the same time that we read this, we saw another
local report which said that authorities responsible for things like planning
applications and bin collections – which
in Lincolnshire means Boston and the six other district councils – should be
abolished or merged with the county council.
Think tank ResPublica
said the reform would create improvements for business, house-building and
public services that are essential to avoid two-tier counties such as
Lincolnshire being left-behind
Phillip Blond, director of ResPublica, was quoted as
saying: “Single councils at the county scale are the future and we call on the
Government to move rapidly to encourage them.”
This served to remind us that early in the year,
Lincolnshire County Council called off plans for a referendum at the county
council elections in May.
The idea was scuppered after chief executives of
district authorities – doubtless fearful of losing their fat-cat salaries –
sought legal advice.
However, at the time, it was said that there would
still be a testing of the waters “later in the year” when residents’ views
would be sought through options said to include a postal ballot, opinion poll
or consultation through the council’s website or County News freesheet.
Cough, cough – the year will soon be over.
Has the idea been abandoned after all?
***
We mentioned the other week about the review of mayoral costs and the tightrope that some councillors are walking to try to save
money whilst maintaining the “dignity” of the office.
As far as we are concerned, dignity is an individual
talent, and over the years we have seen some mayors with more of it, some
with less and some with none at all.
But here’s an idea …
It’s been said that the hoi polloi don’t have much
understanding of the role of the first citizen; so why doesn’t Worst Street take a
leaf from other authorities’ books – and publish a list of mayoral engagements
on its website, which would have the added benefit replacing an irrelevant story in its
so-called newsletter with something that is actually relevant to Boston Borough
Council.
Then taxpayers could see for themselves what the
mayor does and perhaps gain a better appreciation of the job.
***
Some interesting observations from former councillor
Mike Gilbert and founder of the Blue Revolution Party on last
week’s piece about the metal fish sculptures adorning Irby Street, and our
earlier comments on the possibility of the council funding developments at Boston Stump.
He wrote: “I really don't understand the point of
the fish.
“I walk past them every day and they have been
placed on a wall that is generally in a poor state of repair.
“The scale of the fish is also a problem; they are
too small, there is no context or story and there is a mix of sea and
freshwater fish – one of which has its tail snapped off. “Someone told me that the project cost the
thick end of £10K which as a local resident I find it hard to believe.
“Anything on the Irby Place path has a scale issue – being flanked by the Stump and the police station … both in their own unique
way impressive buildings.
“There are also the Assembly Rooms and White Hart to
contend with – so a few small silver fish lose relevance.
“I have said that the raised bed behind the police
station could be used to excellent effect to tell a big Boston story – but there have been no
takers.”
“The Stump is my local place of worship, so I have
to declare an interest.
“However, I think the church, in general, has to
define what it does in a way that makes sense to funding authorities and the
public.
“A building will never be a substitute for personal
action and contact.
“I have, as a local politician, gone out and knocked
doors and talked to people.
“The church seems to avoid this approach to
community cohesion.
“People don't come to buildings, even when invited,
so activists have to go to them.
“I'm afraid
funding a building or institution and engaging with community cohesion are
rather different activities.”
***
Another former councillor – Carol Taylor – wrote
from her new base in the West Country to say: “I continue reading your blog
which as always is amazing.
"The latest blog talks about Matt Warman and his question
about a teaching hospital in Lincolnshire.
“In the days of my blog, I talked about this on
several occasions including the idea that Lincoln County and Pilgrim become
satellite hospitals.
“This is what happened in Nottingham, when Queen’s
Medical Centre became the main hospital and City and Nottingham General became
those satellite hospitals specialising in area such as Orthopaedics for
example.
With regard to the Worst Street calendar, which we
mentioned last week, and which was the brainchild of Mrs Taylor and
another former councillor, we were told: “We had to have all photos etc. in by the
end of August to make print for November.
“I know this is the print way, but an online
calendar will not work.
“It is just a case of lazy councillors etc. doing
things at the last minute to attempt to show that they care about Boston.
“But all it does is highlight their incompetence.”
***
At last, a decent Christmas lighting event has
materialised in Boston – thanks to the enthusiasm and tireless efforts of a
“civilian” band of volunteers.
Here’s how the Christmas
in Boston group summarised this year’s offer …
Aside from demonstrating the hopelessness of Worst
Street’s feeble attempts in recent years, it bursts the bubble named
“councillors know best” – which is the image that they most like to see
projected.
***
And talking of projections …
Talk of Christmas returns us yet again to the
question of what remains of the £35,000 gifted by BTAC-ky last year to the
Boston Town Team.
The lion’s share of the cost apparently went on
projecting Christmassy pictures on to a few buildings around the town.
Boston Town Team – for those of you who might recall
the name but forget the details – claims to be “Working to enhance the vitality
of Boston to ensure it reaches its full potential via the promotion, support and
delivery of key initiatives as part of Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce."
It achieves beneath a blanket of secrecy by doing and saying nothing – its
last Tweet was posted in August 2016,
and its website invited members and non-members along to the team’s annual general
meeting in September of that same year.
Since then … nothing.
The Town Team presumably delivered the £35k to its
masters in Lincoln – and it wasn’t until one of our local “newspapers” filed a Freedom
of Information request that we learned that the organisers had spent £18,500 on just
one projection scheme in the
town.
A further £6,000 was spent on the second one.
The costlier of the two stunts used the former Exchange
Buildings as its background, and included £14,400 for the projection, £1,350 for
the lenses, £750 for the playback, £1,500 for the content creation and £500 to
be installed.
An unanswered question remains: Were the two
projectors bought or hired – and if they were bought (which at a combined cost
of £25k seems more likely) – then who owns them, and where are they?
Certainly there has been no mention that they might
be used this year – although annual “on-costs” were mentioned by the town team on one occasion, plus
claims that costs would reduce to £13,860 this year and still further in the
following two years – so we really need to find out which black hole is now
home to such a large sum of taxpayers’ cash or equipment.
The issue of the projectors found its way on to social media after Thursdays's lights switch-on, and as as result one reader e-mailed us to say that the projectors used last year were back in service that night – to project on to the Stump … this time with Transported footing the bill.
The issue of the projectors found its way on to social media after Thursdays's lights switch-on, and as as result one reader e-mailed us to say that the projectors used last year were back in service that night – to project on to the Stump … this time with Transported footing the bill.
So … who were they hired from?
How much did Transported
pay?
A lot of questions need answering here.
***
Still with the theme of where our money is going, we
were rather taken aback to see that Worst Street council taxpayers apparently stumped up
£5,650 towards the cost of the recent
beach event in Central Park – including
£4,800 to create the sandpit.
Repeatedly, we have been told that Boston Big Local – which has £1m of lottery funding to make the poorer parts of Boston a better place – was
funding the event … “supported” by partner agencies, listed
as Mayflower Housing, Boston Children's Centre, Transported Arts and Boston
United in the Community.
So we asked Boston Big Local to explain – and Plan Co-ordinator Rachel Lauberts told us: “Boston Big Local did sponsor the Beach Event
2017 in Central Park to the tune of £7,800.
“Boston Borough Council pay all of the bills up
front and then invoice Boston Big Local for the total amount, which is why the
individual items show up on the borough's accounts.
“Many other organisations along with the Borough
Council make contributions to the event, both financially and in kind.”
Whilst this answers the question, it raises another
– why does Worst Street act as banker for a separate, unconnected and independently
funded organisation?
We understand it performs a similar function for
Boston in Bloom.
Any answers from Worst Street, please?
***
As well as the Christmas lights switch-on in Boston,
last week also saw the third Illuminate
knees-up, where Boston Borough Council celebrates the arrival of the first
settlers to America – known as the Pilgrim Fathers.
Even though our own Christmas celebrations should be the
focus, they are overshadowed as the lights
go on when they do it because the chosen date is US Thanksgiving Day.
And a yo-ho-ho to you too.
This year, £2,000 towards Illuminate came from Worst Street as part of a bid to run a project
costing £24,000 – even though an appeal to another organisation was turned down … and a second bid for Arts
Council funding towards £8,000 for a “digital commission” to be projected on to
Boston Stump was mentioned at the same time.
This would not now appear to be happening – but if
the organisers want to try to rescue it, we suggestion that Boston Town Team
might be able to tell them where they could lay hands on a projector.
With all this money sloshing around we were saddened
to read the following tweet from BBC
Radio Lincolnshire …
Whilst Worst Street has contributed to Christmas
celebrations through BTAC-ky, we wonder why the simple gesture of doing away
with parking charges proved to be beyond their grasp.
Three years ago, Worst Street Central made a big deal about
abandoning charges for the Christmas switch on, when the then portfolio holder
for the town centre proclaimed: “This represents a Christmas present from the
council to Boston.
“The town has a tremendous varied shopping offer –
from small family-owned traditional retailers through to main multi-nationals.
With free parking located conveniently close there should be no reason to want
to go anywhere else.”
OK, the parking is still free but no thanks to the popwers that bain't – but what a fine gesture and excellent piece of PR for the people if the council had decided not to adopt such
a miserly attitude this year.
Humbug!
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