Trying to
keep track of the to-ing and fro-ing at Worst Street after the resignation of
leader Aaron Spencer is like trying to reach the centre of a maze by walking
through it backwards and blindfolded.
***
In the aftermath
of last week’s politicking, Councillor Spencer appeared to be down – but not apparently out.
Following his
resignation ahead of last week’s full council meeting after being told that the
alternative would be a humiliating vote of no confidence, he fired off an open
letter to all members of the council – couched in terms that some might
question as a way to win them over.
***
Councillor
Spencer wrote: “Now the dust has settled and the true venomous treachery and
betrayal of trust from within the Tory group was exposed to me I feel I could
no longer lead as a member of that group. So, I took the decision to resign as
leader with a very heavy heart, as I really have tried to be a good leader and
bring the divide of councillors together. I was basically push [sic]
by a small few of the Tory group who for selfish opportunistic reasons decided
to make a grap [sic] for power and keep the strangle hold [sic] on
the leadership.
“As I have
also stated I wanted us all to work together without divide to make a better
boston [sic]. This is what I stand for and truly believe.
“This will
not happen if the Tory group are allowed to install a new puppet that I would
not be. I urge you as fellow councillors to support me as an independent to
lead Boston council again. If you support me there will be a complete
shuffle within the cabinet and various positions, giving a true fair and
collision [sic] governance for our town and do what’s best for the people
of boston [sic] we where [sic] elected for.
“I
sacrificed a full time job offer and only worked 2 months over the Xmas period
so I could give 100% to my role . However Nigel and Tom who have wanted to be
leader in the past, and mike [sic] who was twisted and showed hatred
towards me since my election decided that this gave them a reason for no
confidence and when removing mike [sic] from a role because of his total
lack of interest at our group meetings the scene was set for the betrayal
allowing Tom to run around and obtain some support from a few of you.
“To give
Boston the best shot I can ! [sic] I hope you can get behind me and
choose me again. This time I can truly lead us all for a better boston [sic].
“Thank you
for taking the time to read my email and I will try to call every one of you
over the next few days and it will allow me to answer any questions or fears
you may have. There will be no lies from my mouth and I hope I can proof [sic]
to you that I am the right man. I know I am not as experienced as some of you
but I have lots of positive energy to share, and though me I will give your
opinion a voice.”
***
We don’t know
what you make of this – but it was enough to make one Independent take to
social media to give Councillor Spencer his backing.
Interestingly,
Councillor Hastie is one of those ‘Independents’ who takes the view that if
a councillor quits his group they should resign and fight a by-election.
Yes,
really.
***
We also heard
that Councillor Spencer held a meeting last Thursday at which he hoped to
rally colleagues to back him as an ‘Independent’ leader.
***
Quite how
this would work, we don’t know – Councillor Mike Cooper has reunited with the Tory party after the spat which saw him sacked by Councillor Spencer – and the Conservatives
still have a majority.in any case.
***
To appoint
Councillor Spencer as the ‘Independent’ leader of the council would require
some Tories either absenting themselves from future meetings, abstaining from voting, or deliberately voting
against their own party.
***
Whilst the impression exists that recent events came to a head quite suddenly, we understand
that the issues concerning Councillor Spencer arose over time and that he was cautioned by his peers a number of times before push came to shove.
***
But one
outcome of all this is to have focussed the minds of potential candidates
for the Tory leader’s job – with both the current deputy Nigel Welton and
planning committee chairman Tom Ashton (whose raising of the sacking of
Councillor Cooper brought matters to boiling point) now apparently unwilling to put themselves forward to
replace Councillor Spencer.
Who might
be left to vie for the job?
Your can make a few guesses yourself, and we think you will agree that the list is
not exciting.
***
But we won't have long to wait.
An extraordinary meeting of the council has been called for Monday 3rd February at 6-30pm specifically to appoint a new leader of the council.
It has been called by six councillors – one more than the mininum required by the council's constitution – and can be attended by members of the public ... although they are not allowed to speak.
Given what we’ve been hearing, it seems likely that five of the councillors wanting the meeting represent the entire Bostonian Independents Group – which includes two battle-scarred veterans of previous leadership encounters – while the sixth would have to be Councillor Spencer.
Remember, next Monday’s meeting is to appoint a leader of the council – not the Conservative group – which presumably will have to get its ducks in a row to appoint their own Number One in double quick time, in the hope and expectation that the winner will also have enough votes on the night to keep control of the council.
It has been called by six councillors – one more than the mininum required by the council's constitution – and can be attended by members of the public ... although they are not allowed to speak.
Given what we’ve been hearing, it seems likely that five of the councillors wanting the meeting represent the entire Bostonian Independents Group – which includes two battle-scarred veterans of previous leadership encounters – while the sixth would have to be Councillor Spencer.
***
Extraordinary meetings of Boston Borough Council, are, err,
extraordinarily rare. The last one was almost two years ago – on 12th
February 2018, when Councillor Brian Rush was mayor.
Then, a motion proposed by Councillor Michael Cooper and
seconded by Councillor David Brown declared the council’s “deep concern with
the actions of the Mayor in posting offensive and political comments on his Facebook
page.”
The motion declared that this had “demeaned the great office that is The
Worshipful the Mayor of Boston.”
It went on to say that Councillor Rush had “sullied” the role
of First Citizen and champion of the Borough with “petty, political point
scoring that is factually incorrect” and called on him to resign with immediate
effect.
To hammer the point home, an amendment was moved by
Councillor Richard Austin and seconded by Councillor Aaron Spencer demanding
that if the Mayor refused to quit, officers should withdraw all administrative
support for his activities as Mayor for the rest of his term of office.
***
The extraordinary meeting prior to that was at the end of
October 2016 – with the happier objective of making a local woman a Freeman of
the borough to recognise her years of service to the community.
***
The business conducted may be poles apart – but the variety
and rarity of such meetings underlines their importance of these very special meetings
***
If they had three-line whips in local parties then this would be an occasion for one of them.
Hopefully, we'll learn more in the coming week and, if so, will share it with you on the day of the meeting.
Hopefully, we'll learn more in the coming week and, if so, will share it with you on the day of the meeting.
***
So … is
anything else happening in Worst Street other than some rather unseemly
jockeying for power and position?
***
Yes – and it
seems that if it doesn’t involve power it involves money.
***
The draft budget
for the coming year has just surfaced – with a rise in Worst Street’s share of
the council tax being proposed at 2.05%, just 8p a week more for Band D
taxpayers – and we expect it to be touted as the act of a generous council seeking to save our pockets.
***
It sounds
quite good, but as always, the devil is in the detail.
Whilst we may think that we are getting away with a reasonable increase – we are paying
heavily in other areas.
One of
these has been well-aired already – the increase in garden waste collection
charges.
According to
the draft budget the rise will bring in an extra £166,000 next
year – although no further increases are listed for the years up to financial year
2024/2025.
But if you’re
planning to die in the coming years – then its time to start saving now.
Bereavement
charges are set to increase by £31,000 in the year ahead, then rise steadily by
proposed increments of an extra £26k a year in 2021/2 and 2022/3, £30k in
2023/4 and another £27k in the final budgeted year of 2024/2025.
That’s a
rise of £140,000 between today and April 2024.
***
Car
parking charges are also set to bring in another £29,000 in the financial year
ahead.
***
But there’s
no limit to the Worst Street imagination when it comes to making money.
It emerged
recently that the council had told Boston Woods Trust – which is a registered charity – that
from April it must pay to have its bins for litter and dog waste
collected from the car parks at its sites.
This has forced the Trust to appeal for at least 100 new members at £20 a year which would cover the shortfall.
If you’d like to join, then you can follow the link here – and let them know that you heard about them in Boston Eye.
If you’d like to join, then you can follow the link here – and let them know that you heard about them in Boston Eye.
But we still think that as Worst Street's bin lorries collect in the areas near the woods, the council could make an exception in this particular case.
***
***
To underline the irony of all this, Worst Street last week declared a climate emergency, which included special mention of the importance of tree-planting.
“The
Council provides excellent levels of biodiversity and environmental good
practice. The Council is accredited in its management of both country parks and
delivers a number of tree planting successes across its parks and grounds estates year
on year. The Council continues to increase it’s [sic] activity in these
areas and wishes to provide and support others to further this agenda.”
Ho-Ho.
But the penny-pinching doesn’t
end there, apparently.
People wanting
planning application information are now going to have to fork out as well.
We hear
that the department no longer
prints copies of supporting statements.
And whilst taxpayers can view them on-screen by arrangement in the municipal buildings – assuming they are able-bodied
enough to get there and can find somewhere to park – if they want paper copies they must pay on a sliding scale that starts at 10p for a piece of A4 paper
and end at £2.10 for a slab of A1.
***
It’s not
enough to attack one local charity, by the way – Worst Street has set its sights on others
as well.
Until it
shut up shop completely – Boston’s Oxfam shop opened at different times to the
published hours – and once or twice when we had stuff to drop off, we left it
bagged neatly in the doorway.
***
Now Boston
Borough Council wants it known that doing this is a crime – regardless of
the charity involved.
So, in future,
it seems that helping others less fortunate may get you nabbed by the
crack team the council employs to nick a handful of people who drop fag ends in
the name of keeping the borough clean.
Oh. And
what will be done about the rolls of bedding and blankets left overnight in shop
doorways to stake a claim for our local beggary when they arrive for their day’s
business? No-one seems much bothered about them
***
The same message
is being sent out to people who leave recyclable items beside collecting banks.
“If you
find your local recycling bank is full please do not leave the items next to
the bin as this is classed as fly-tipping,” says Worst Street blithely, going
on to ask people to let them know about a full bank.
If they
kept a more thorough eye on them as they should, this problem wouldn’t arise.
But Worst Street
has always loved threatening and criminalising people.
***
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