What threatens to be a major row is brewing within the ruling Tory group at Boston Borough Council after a former leader of the council and senior member of the Planning Committee was arbitrarily removed by Worst Street Leader Aaron Spencer.

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Councillor Mike Cooper, who was succeeded by Councillor Spencer in July last 
year after two years as leader, was sacked without warning –  and without being told – and replaced on the Planning Committee by the recently-returned Councillor David Brown.

Councillor Cooper – who co-incidentally is Councillor Spencer’s joint representative in the Five Villages ward – has now quit the Conservative group – though he remains a card-carrying party member while being listed on WorstWeb, the council website, as “not specified”.

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The move prompted a high-level dialogue between Planning Committee Chairman Councillor Tom Ashton and the Leader – which culminated with a slap in the face for the entire Conservative group when Councillor Spencer effectively told them: “do as I say or you’re out as well”.

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Councillor Ashton tackled the issue head-on when he told Councillor Spencer of his “extreme disappointment” at the decision to take Councillor Cooper off the Planning Committee, “and the apparent manner in which this decision was taken.”

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He went on: “You will undoubtedly be aware from your records that Councillor Cooper enjoys an exemplary record as a member of the Planning Committee with nearly five years’ experience, in addition to having held Portfolio responsibility for Planning and serving as a representative of the Borough Council on the South East Lincolnshire Joint Planning Committee. Councillor Cooper chaired the December meeting of the Planning Committee in my absence and was universally held to have done so successfully.

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“I would be grateful if you could furnish me with your reasons for the decision you have made, specifically detailing how the decision to replace Councillor Cooper aides [sic]the Planning Committee in the exercise of its duties on behalf of the Local Planning Authority. I am mindful of our requirement as a Regulatory committee responsible for determining high profile and complex planning decisions; and hope you will be able to demonstrate how your decision to remove the most long-standing and best-qualified Conservative member of the Committee accords with these responsibilities.

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“While I acknowledge your prerogative in determining which members of the Conservative Group serve on which Committees, as Chairman of the Planning Committee and a fellow member of the Conservative Group, good manners and good political sense would have suggested running changes to the Committee composition by me in advance. An even more basic level of courtesy would have been to have ensured I had prior notice of the change you intended to make.

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“I would take this opportunity to observe that having spoken to Democratic Services this morning, they were under the impression that the decision was made at the Conservative Group meeting on Thursday (January 9^th – ed.).

“Having been at that meeting and able to affirm that no discussion of Planning Committee places took place, could you possibly explain how Democratic Services came to be labouring under this error?

“As of this morning, neither myself as Chairman or Councillor Cooper as the member concerned were aware that this change had been made on Friday. Not only does this amount to a discourtesy to myself as Chairman which I have explained above and grossly discourteous to Councillor Cooper, it has had the unfortunate effect of placing Council officers supporting the Committee in a most unenviable position.”

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As well as tackling Councillor Spencer, Councillor Ashton took an equally hard line when he shared his concerns with the rest of the Tory group members …

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He told them: “I feel a profound sense of disappointment that the harmony of the group which was arrived at in our meeting on Thursday after long and painstaking debate has been disturbed once again in this way; not least when Council officers are under the impression that this decision was taken by you all at the Group Meeting when it very clearly was not.

“It should come as a surprise to no one that this decision will likely effectively force Councillor Cooper to leave our group – in no small part because of the way in which he has been treated. This would be a monumental tragedy and loss of an effective and competent Conservative Ward Councillor and Planning Committee member.

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“When I was coordinating the Borough Council election campaign last year, I made it very clear that our core objective was to see the then current team returned, in addition to gaining new members. Uniquely among Lincolnshire councils, we lost only one incumbent councillor and made a net gain in seats over 2015. With this in mind, I hope you will understand my distress at the continuation of this self-inflicted disharmony beyond the peace which we all assumed had been established last Thursday. Put simply, I have not spent hundreds of hours alongside other Party volunteers trying to elect and keep a Conservative majority on the Borough Council to have this actively undermined and good people forced out.

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“We have an obligation to the voters who put us where we are to take decisions collectively which are driven by a desire to improve our borough.

“Personal feelings and spite must never come into this.”

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Councillor Ashton’s comments were followed up by cabinet member Yvonne Stevens, who told Councillor Spencer …

“At the group meeting the main agenda item was to adopt rules for a Conservative Council Group, which we did, in detail.

“During the meeting and at no time did I enter into a discussion about councillors, removing or adding, to or from the Planning Committee. And neither did I hear the matter being discussed by anyone else.”

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All of the above cut no ice with Councillor Spencer – whose exasperation shone like a beacon …

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His response to group members was clearly impatient and intolerant of their concerns.

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“I can not [sic] believe I have to address this again, [sic] in case it is not clear I will not have anyone on a committee who doesn’t support me and the vision I have for the town.

“I have given Councillor Cooper ample opportunity to carry on and serve however have been met with an abusive and obtuse behaviour every time. [sic]

“To those who don’t support me or even like me I would say park it and put the town above your personal vendettas out of respect for the people we are supposed to be serving as instead of engaging with this behaviour I will be working towards that and urge all of you to do the same.

“It was my decision and mine alone and I did it for what I thought was best for the town so we can move forward something I didn’t feel could be done under the current circumstances. It is a shame that Cllr Cooper has taken the decision to leave the party however as I already mentioned I have given him a lot of opportunities to work all of which were met with the same end.

“Once again I put the town first over and above personal issues.”

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Councillor Cooper told Boston Eye that he only found out he had lost his planning role when a colleague texted to tell him.

“This was after I'd picked up my planning agenda,” he said. “Had he not let me know I would've turned up none the wiser.”

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Asked for his thoughts on what prompted the move, he echoed Councillor Ashton …

“It’s all pure spite. Spencer did some back-stabbing and dirty dealing which was the reason I resigned as leader. I just didn’t want to be involved with it so I walked away from it.

“And then he wonders why I’m not all sweetness and light to him so out of spite he took me off of planning.

“He was a bit silly, because I’m probably one of the most experienced persons on planning. I’ve done five years on there, I was on the South East Lincolnshire Plan, I know a lot about planning law and the way it works, I’ve spoken at appeals for the council. I’ve done a fair bit around planning and how it works; I had the portfolio for it, so I’m pretty up to speed on it.

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Asked what he thought had brought matters to a head, he said: “We had a group meeting and he didn’t like it because I asked awkward questions about things such as transport strategy – he’s not turned up to a single transport strategy meeting since he’s been leader.

“The other day he couldn’t be bothered to go to a leaders’ and chief executives’ meeting because he was too busy working at Boston West and couldn’t be bothered to go to Lincoln.

“He doesn’t go to meetings; he’s basically lazy. And he doesn’t do the job.”

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The reference to the Boston West venue at Hubberts Bridge refers to a job which Councillor Spencer declared under The Relevant Authorities (Disposable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations of 2012.

According to the declaration he became General Manager not long after the hotel and golf complex was bought by former council colleague and prominent local property entrepreneur Alistair Arundell – who quit after five months in office.

Since then, Mr Arundell has announced big plans to develop Boston West which include a leisure complex, entertainment zone, aqua park, sauna and spa, and erecting more than 300 wooden luxury lodges on the 152-acre site. Although the plans have yet to come before the council for debate and approval, an application appeared last Friday on a list of received applications.

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However, within a short space of time, an amendment saw Councillor Spencer’s declaration scored out – giving the impression that he no longer worked there. The amendment –  the last of four updates made to the declaration  since 2017, was dated Thursday December 19^th.

Despite that, a local news story dated 24^th December announced that the plans for the centre were submitted to Boston Borough Council on Monday, December 23^rd and included Councillor Spencer in a group photo identified as ‘the team’ at Boston West.

Perhaps you can see why people are confused.

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When we asked Councillor Spencer if he could clarify this, he told us: “I worked at Boston West over Xmas it was always a temporary position and I took advice from the monitoring officer as to the most appropriate way of handling the DPI.

“The rumours that I still work there are however incorrect I do however socially visit as I do enjoy the odd 100 balls on the driving range and a game of golf.

“Thank you for getting in touch and giving me the opportunity to explain the situation.”

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Somehow, we feel that the full consequences of this row have yet to be felt.

One thing that makes think this is a dark conclusion by Councillor Ashton in his comments to Councillor Spencer.

“Separately I believe there are also very serious questions raised by this episode which are relevant to the functioning of the Conservative Group which I will address through the appropriate channels and on a separate email.”

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We conclude with a couple of definitions culled from the internet.

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“A simple definition is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. ... He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction.”

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“A dictatorship is a form of government where one person or political party has the power to do whatever they want. The ruler is called a dictator. In a dictatorship, the individuals rights are generally speaking, suppressed.”

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We leave it to you to decide which one you are witnessing.

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