Worst Street’s ruling group are nothing if not imaginative when it comes to trying to get their own way with the plan for a strategic alliance with East Lindsey District Council.

***

After seeing their bid to get the deal signed, sealed and delivered  by 1^st  July brought to the brink of delay, they backed down and withdrew the motion – then did some behind the scenes wheeling and dealing and have now amended the proposal to try to make it palatable to non-Tory members.

The move is on the agenda at an extraordinary meeting called for Thursday, which will be broadcast over the internet – and if you want to watch it live, you can  register to do so by clicking here 

***

To cut a long story short – and we need to, because the full council meeting that debated the issue on 10^th June lasted 4 hours, 43 minutes and 34 seconds – the new Cunning Plan is designed to win over some doubters.

***

In a nutshell, an amendment creates a scrutiny “framework” to let Worst Street “shadow” the evolution of the joint officer corps, and gives the council .an option to end the alliance after 12 months by giving three months’ notice on 1^st April next year … or nine months after the date the alliance becomes operative, whichever is the latter.

***

Quite how that will placate the majority of councillors who forced through a motion to delay the merger for a minimum of six months to allow for detailed scrutiny and discuss of the plan is anyone’s guess.

***

Unless you factor in some less than subtle pressure which we think borders on blackmail.

***

In recent days the issue of free parking has come to the fore – with our neighbours in South Holland, East Lindsey and South Kesteven all extending free parking for the time being to speed recovery in their town centres.

***

Contrast that with Boston, when – as soon as a date for shops to reopen was announced – we heard town centre portfolio holder Chelcei [sic] Sharman trumpet: “We have managed to hold car park charges off as long as we can to help residents and local businesses, but as businesses start to reopen we feel it is the right time to reintroduce normal parking fees.”

Come again?

What that says to us is that Worst Street didn’t bother to charge for parking when the shops were shut and scarcely anyone went into town – but once business resumed, saw the chance to shoot fish in a barrel by turning the parking meters back on.

***

That little piece of transparent greed was exposed for what it was once other districts kept their parking free.

Cue Cunning Plan II.

***

In a letter dated 19^th June, Boston’s deputy leader Nigel Welton wrote to MP Matt Warman in response to his open letter to all councillors urging them to back the Manby alliance.

And tucked between the lines came the opportunity to play the parking card for all it was worth …

 

***

Interpretations may vary – but our view is that it is a move to compromise opposition to the motion before Thursday’s meeting.

Put simply it says: “Vote for the deal and we’ll give you free parking. Block it for six months as you voted last time and you’ll get the blame.”

***

If nothing else, it’s certainly open and transparent!

***

Your guess is as good as ours when it comes to wondering quite how opposition councillors will handle this little ‘gotcha’.

If they stick to their guns over wanting fuller scrutiny, they will assuredly find themselves taking the fall for denying drivers who use the town centre an extension of free parking.

***

Already, the word is that opposition has been compromised by the offer to allow members to “shadow” – i.e. tinker with – the officer structure, and provide a ‘get out of jail free’ card if they don’t like the ways things are going. Frankly, we doubt that much will happen with these concessions unless something truly major is taken against.

***

So, are our “leaders” quietly confident about getting their own way on Thursday?

Some say they are – but we remain unconvinced that things will yet go as smoothly as they would like.

***

Whilst we support the idea of an alliance with another authority as a means of both securing and enhancing Boston’s future, we cannot go along with the ham-fisted and transparently obvious moves by the leadership to get its own way, regardless.

The more it seems to seek to suppress scrutiny and debate, the more convinced will people become that something is going on that the powers that bain’t don’t want us to know about.

***

Thursday 25^th – Just in …

On the day of the meeting, we have received an e-mail from our long-standing contributor ‘Scanner’ – someone who is ‘in the know’ when it comes to Boston Borough Council, and who writes:

“I see that the proposed amalgamation of East Lindsey District Council and Boston borough Council -- at first claimed by our Council Leader not to be a merger but just an alliance– has not been decided, after a series of almost farcical meetings that stalled the campaign. There are several questions that should be answered.

“Which council minute gave our staff permission to spend 18 months carrying out the investigations that led to this report?  How many staff were involved, and how much time did they spend, at what cost and what expenses did they incur?  Also, did other duties suffer because of this?  If this did not affect their normal duties, are they surplus to our requirements (see below)?  If no full council permission was forthcoming at the time, surely this exercise was illegal?

“What was the breakdown of the saving?  I’m sure Councillor Skinner claimed that most of the staff at the sharp end were safe – so this £1.5 million each year (originally £1.8 million) is be saved only by cutting staff and their on-costs at officer level.

“It is proposed that our BBC Chief Executive is replaced   by East Lindsey’s Chief Executive.   I have no idea of his capabilities but I would respect him more if he had to defend his appointment against other candidates.

“Mr Drury is not on £1.5 million p.a., so this cannot be the only saving.  Let’s suppose there are, say, twenty officers that cost £150,000 pa, each. Sacking ten would save that sum. Logically, therefore, whatever the number of officers dismissed, those remaining must do the new work as well as what they were already doing. If this is the case they must, at present, be under-used. Why do both councils employ so many? It doesn’t need a merger to sort that problem out!

“We have not been advised where that the merged base will finally be. I expect it will be in East Lindsey and we will have a small office in West Street as a consolation. How many councillors will represent us, have even the councillors been told? We must be in a minority given the respective sizes of the areas. Even in these days of better communication, there’s nothing like face to face confrontation and I don’t think East Manby’s very easy to reach from Boston.  Note. too, that Lincolnshire County Council now has no office in Boston.

“Finally – the most important question of all to our councillors …what has happened to transparency and public consultation?” The investigations began over 18 months ago – behind closed doors. The decision was admitted publicly in the newspapers only two weeks before it was to be made. Was this deliberate?  It is only the result of indecision by some councillors that the matter was not a fait accompli by now. I see that some residents in East Lindsey have, belatedly woken up to this proposal and are voicing their discontent.

“Surely, the public are entitled to have their say on changes that will have such an important effect on their lives? We have a Conservative government preaching local accountability and transparency. But it seems that local Conservatives have tried to push through important decisions without telling the public (and most councillors?) the detailed plans – only dangling the lure of saving £15 million (or is it £18million?). Aren’t we intelligent enough? Deliberately giving no time for opposition to their plans?

“Lincolnshire County Council may be on the side-lines, waiting to gobble up the whole of the county. (Out goes LOCAL and transparent government.  In comes ‘Big is Beautiful’). That’s no excuse for local turkeys to vote for Christmas.

“At least us mere morons should have a vote on the County Council’s and the Government’s   ideas for local participation and democracy, but will we?”  

 SCANNER

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com

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