This week is uncharacteristic for Boston Borough Council in
that there seems to have been an outbreak of democracy in Worst Street.
***
Today sees the start of National Democracy Week – and Worst
Street is demonstrating that it is bang up to date up there with the best of
them by promoting a debate for students which reads: “This house believes that
women should not be afforded the right to vote...”
The council claims that a debate on Women's Right to Vote is
particularly relevant as this year is the 100th anniversary of the
act which gave some women the right to vote for the first time.
“Boston's Guildhall will be transformed into its own house
of commons and, in keeping with that time, it is expected to be a very vocal
and enthusiastic debate ably encouraged from the public gallery” says WorstWeb – the council’s website.
At least it sounds a little more exciting that normal
meetings of the council where the only sound for much of the time is that of a
rubber stamp being applied.
***
Tomorrow the council will be staging a mock scrutiny meeting
and on Wednesday students will be attending that day’s Cabinet meeting.
Thursday involves a visit to the CCTV suite and a chance to
look at the family silver and join the deputy mayor for a cucumber sandwich,
whilst Friday completes the week with an open day at the Guildhall to see how
the council works.
Councillors will be there too, as will MP Matt Warman to
field questions.
Whilst all the other sessions are private – the Guildhall is
open as usual, so there is a rare opportunity to quiz the great and the good.
But synchronise your clocks and watches – the session only
last from 10am until 2pm.
***
All this makes a pleasant change coming from a council that
normally prefers to hide its light under as big a bushel as possible – although
we have just one niggle.
Whilst the aim of the week is to promote local democracy,
particularly among young people in schools and colleges, nothing at all is on offer for anyone over the age of 18.
According to recent population figures for the borough, just
12% of residents are aged between 10 and 19 years. That leaves an awful lot of
people who might appreciate a lesson or two in how the council works with nothing
to get involved in whatever … unless they pop along to Friday’s Guildhall
session.
Still, at least it’s a tottering step in the right
direction.
***
However, the 18-plusses do get a look in tomorrow night at
6pm where there is an open meeting for anyone interested in becoming a
councillor in the Committee Room of the municipal buildings in West Street.
The session will provide information on the election process
and an overview of the role and responsibilities of being a councillor.
All 30 seats on Boston Borough Council will be up for
election on May 2nd next year – less than 200 days away – when we
expect to see some to see some serious changes
WorstWeb
tantalisingly asks: “Have you ever ... wanted to get something done for your
community?
“Thought that the council could spend money better?
“Wanted to improve public services?
“Thought that you could do a better job given the chance?
“Well now's your chance.”
***
We think that’s being a little over-optimistic, as there is
no money left to spend for better or for worse, and public services broadly are
deteriorating rather than the reverse.
Having said that, doing a better job than some of our
current flock of councillors should not be too difficult, and as we have seen,
no specific skills or qualifications are required – so why not give it a go?
***
Talk of councillors reminds us of a couple of noteworthy
episodes that have caught our eye in the past few days.
***
Step forward Councillor Stephen Woodliffe.
Earlier this month Mr Woodliffe hit the headlines at a
meeting of the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Panel during a debate on police
funding when he asked if PCSOs should be funded by parish councils.
Mr Woodliffe, who represents Boston Borough Council on the
panel, said he believed there was ‘little option.’
After the meeting, he was quoted as saying: “It’s my view
that if the police grant from the government cannot be increased and
Lincolnshire faces a situation where there are not enough officers to provide
the security people want then people will have to pay for PCSOs, as an example,
out of parish funds.
“The parishes themselves would have to fund the police
officers who will patrol their communities.”
He was also said to have added that the idea could be
extended to include other services.
“I’m afraid there is
little option since government finances are in the precarious state they are,
ordinary citizens are going to have to pay more money for the services that
they want,” he said.
***
In the early says of PCSO-ing the bill was picked up by the districts,
but that was taken over by Lincolnshire County Council, which withdrew the £2
million funding because of financial constraints nearly three years ago.
***
In Mr Woodliffe’s political world a parish council would be BTAC-ky, of which he is a member.
Yet his track record here is rather contradictory.
Spool back to July 2016 when BTAC-ky was ramping up its
precept to buy more and more power and approved a council tax rise of 94.6%,
followed by another the following year of 185%.
We wrote to all members of BTAC to protest at the high
charges being imposed on the borough’s poorest area, as the BTAC catchment has
long been recognised.
He responded: “I take issue with your assertion that the
extra precept charges will be imposed upon residents of the poorest wards in
the town. The precept depends upon the
valuation of the property and not upon its location. Thus, the greatest charge
falls on those living in the highest rated band H properties, who pay much more
than that of a band A property...
“Looking to the future, as a BTAC resident, it is my view
that a charge of one pound a week on a band D property (£50 a year – Ed) and
much less for a band A property, for BTAC would be a very reasonable charge to
make to ensure that Boston remains an attractive pleasant place to live; and I
hope that the public see the sense of such a proposal.”
***
Yet between his idea to pay for PCSOs from the parish purse
and rejecting the idea that people living in the BTAC area might have trouble
paying their council tax bills came the February meeting of the Lincolnshire
Police and Crime Panel, which increase the police share of council tax by 5.8%
to raise an extra £2.7m a year.
But this time, according to reports of the meeting, up
popped Mr W to ask how our Police and Crime Commissioner expected “hard-pressed
residents” to fund such a significant increase.”
It really has to be make
your mind up time for Mr Woodliffe.
Either he has sympathy with the hard-pressed or he sees them
as a milch cow that is there to fund
all and sundry.
What Mr Woodliffe fails to have taken into account is that
Boston Borough Council is in exactly the same boat as Lincolnshire Police and
that if they can’t afford the service provided by PCSOs there is no reason for
local councils to pick up the tab.
***
Any attempt so to do would place Worst Street in a
precarious position where public confidence is concerned.
After all, we have put up with ever-increasing cuts to services
over the years against a backdrop of increasing council tax based on the
argument that the council’s budget is being cut by the government and that only
a similar exercise by Worst Street can help make ends meet.
Back in the days when PCSOs cost a mere £2 million, the
basic but perhaps disproportionate division of that figure by the seven
district councils would mean chipping in £285,000 – and if that amount of money
was sloshing about to be given away
willy-nilly it could have been spent on something that Worst Street and its
residents had a choice about.
We hope that Mr Woodliffe’s seat on the panel is one that
carries no authority to authorise spending money from our purse – and that if it might, he would consult more widely than
merely shooting from the lip.
***
Still with money – and questions still remain over whether
or not Boston has benefitted from a £111,000 windfall from its investments.
The claim was reported just over a month ago, when Worst
Street’s finance ‘chief’ is highlighted the potential of a £20 million loan “after
the authority’s previous investment had an 11% return.”
The report told us: “Councillor Aaron Spencer has been
buoyed by the success of a £1 million property fund investment made three years
ago, which on March 31st had
returned £1.111 million – giving the
council an additional £111,000 capital.
“It comes as the authority and East Lindsey District Council
look at how to spend a further £20 million loan.
“After revealing the news to cabinet leaders, councillor
Spencer said: “When you consider we put in to our capital budget £100k every
year in order to make capital available to replace our refuse fleet or whatever
we need, another £111k from an investment, from £1m, you can scale that up to
the £20m.”
***
Boston Eye regulars
will recall that some of our readers were less than happy with the maths
involved here – and one has gone as far as a Freedom of Information request to
find out more.
The question asked for full details of with whom the investment was placed, the type
of property fund it was placed in and the term of the investment – along with
copies of the minutes where the terms of this investment and the approval of
the investment were discussed.
As well as that, the request sought important clarification:
“In the borough's accounts for the year ended 31st March 2018 the
investment seems to appear under long term investments.
“In his interview Councillor Spencer seems to suggest the
investment has now matured and returned £111,000 cash to the council’s coffers;
whereas the accounts seem to suggest that this is a long term investment and
the valuation of this investment as at 31st March 2018 was
£1,111,000.
***
Boston Borough Council replied to say: during 2016/17 it invested
£1m in three property funds – £0.5m in BlackRock UK Property Fund £0.25m in Schroder’s Real Estate Fund and the same amount in Threadneedle Property Unit Trust
“These investments are long-term and have no set maturity
date. The council still hold units in all three funds, and performance is
reported on a quarterly basis to the Audit and Governance Committee.
“Copies of the minutes from the Audit and Governance,
Cabinet and Full Council where the terms of this investment and the approval of
the investment were discussed. “Minutes of meetings (and agendas) are available
at http://moderngov.boston.gov.uk/ieDocHome.aspx?bcr=1
– specific reports can be accessed by selecting the appropriate committee and
date.
“The Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2016-17 was
approved by the council on 29th February 2016.
“The Treasury Management 2016-17 Quarter 1 update report was
presented to the Audit and Governance Committee on 25th July 2016.
“The Annual Treasury Management Report 2017-18 was presented
to the Audit and Governance Committee on 30th May 2018
“The council’s 2017-18 Financial Statements were presented
to Audit and Governance Committee on 30th May 2018, and can be found
at http://www.boston.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=23587&p=0
***
Amusingly – depending on your sense of humour – Blackrock is
the company that pays George Osborne £650,000 a year for one day's work a week.
We hope that he's keeping a watchful eye on our paltry half a million!
Interestingly, all three companies invest in property in
broadly the same proportions – split between UK retail, UK offices, UK
industrial and other UK properties … so if disaster strikes, all three will be
in the same boat.
We always thought that the general idea was to spread investments
so that if one suffered, others might not.
But then, what do we know?
One answer to that
which we do know is that the
investments are on-going – and any profit shown appears to be on paper … and
not in hard cash.
***
We hope that people are keeping a cool head over the news
that a major television series is to be filmed in Boston.
Wild Bill,
starring Rob Lowe – an actor with forty years’ experience in film, television
and theatre, including a starring role in The
West Wing – features high-flying US police chief Bill Hixon who comes to Boston to lead the ‘East Lincolnshire’
police force.
According to the ITV blurb … “he lands in Boston,
Lincolnshire, with his 14 year-old daughter Kelsey in tow, hoping they can flee
their painful recent past.
“But this unfamiliar, unimpressed community will force Bill
to question everything about himself and leave him asking whether it's Boston
that needs Bill, or Bill that needs Boston?”
It goes on: “With a first class degree in criminology, a
Masters in psychopathology and a Doctorate in statistical mapping, Bill Hixon
is impressively qualified to tackle the county’s crime figures with his graphs,
charts, algorithms and a tapestry of digits.
“Whip-smart, acerbic and unstoppable,
Bill is very good at what he does.
"America’s Top Metropolitan Police Chief
three years running is the ideal candidate to make his mark on the East
Lincolnshire force, not least by driving through drastic cuts. From the outset
Bill isn’t about making friends. He’s here to get the job done and get the hell
out as quick as his spin-class-toned legs will carry him.
“But Bill discovers the people of Boston are just as
smart-mouthed, cynical and difficult to impress as he is. They don’t suffer
fools, authority or algorithms gladly.
“And the man who’s spent his life
keeping the messiness of human intimacy at arm’s length is reluctantly
propelled into frontline policing and forced to reconsider his relationship
with those closest to him.
"It’s funny and dangerous in equal measure.”
Why is it that we think Boston is unlikely to emerge smelling
of roses from its skirmish with the movie makers?
***
Finally – and still on a monetary theme – we mentioned last
week that Boston Borough Council was using part of the £1.39 million grant from the Government's
Controlling Migration Fund … made available to promote community cohesion in
partnership with various local charities and organisations … to blow £95,000 on
a major refurbishment and expansion of Boston's Geoff Moulder Leisure Complex.
We thought this a little strange, as projects mentioned at
the time included improving access to English lessons and bolstering advice
services as well as an increased focus on tackling and remedying the impact
that rogue landlords and anti-social behaviour have had on the area.
So you can guess our surprise when we saw this advert online last week on the Boston
English Academy Facebook page.
News of the Moulder improvements must surely come as a tonic
for Lincolnshire County Council, the Boston Lithuanian Community, Cultural
Solutions UK, Boston Police and the two teachers who are providing the courses
– for free!
***
Back next Monday.
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com
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confidence and published anonymously if requested.
Our former blog is archived at:
http://bostoneyelincolnshire.blogspot.com
We are on Twitter – visit @eye_boston
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