After our last couple of blogs looking at attendances – or rather the lack of them – by some of your local councillors, we read of a timely intervention from Thurrock Council  in Essex calling for voters to have the power to recall councillors that fail to attend meetings or are convicted of a crime.

The council has written to local government minister, Sajid Javid, calling for the Government to introduce new legislation making it easier to get rid of councillors in the event of a ‘significant conduct or ethical breach’.

This would include attending less than 20% of council meetings, being convicted of a crime since the election, breaching the members' code of conduct or failing to engage in constituency work for six months.

The council’s deputy leader, Shane Hebb, was quoted on the LocalGov website as saying: “As councillors, we are effectively immune from our residents calling time on any bad practices until a future election.

“It is the belief of this council that significant lapses of judgement and behaviour warrant sanction far sooner in some instances – and that our bosses – the electorate, should have a say in calling time on such elected representatives.”

***

Ten out of ten to Thurrock – which clearly has similar problems to Boston ... as many other local authorities doubtless do as well.

It does seem strange to us that whilst Worst Street sets targets for all manner of things, they mostly apply to staff rather than councillors.

For instance, there is an overall target for absences due to sickness among staff of seven days in the 2016-2017 year … which has been slightly exceeded to stand at 8.6 days.

We have no doubt that in cases where absences are even longer, consideration is given to early retirement on health grounds.

But some councillors can knock up an absence rate of 60% or more from the meetings they are expected to attend without anyone batting an eyelid – and they’re not even under the weather!

Back in June, Council leader Michael Cooper declared:  “I am passionate about Boston and the wider borough and I have a gritty determination to make life here better for everyone.”

Perhaps that could include inculcating this attitude  into some of his colleagues to attend meetings more regularly, and assert themselves more rigorously.

***

With its casual abuse of the Data Protection Act, an e-mail arrived in our private mail box from Boston Borough Council last week telling us: “We are no longer emptying blue recyclable bins that contain plastic bags.

“All recyclable waste MUST be loose in your blue bin. Blue recycling bags can be used for excess waste only and will be collected if they are left at the side of your bin on your collection day but must not be placed into your blue bin …

“ … Bin liners cannot be recycled and can hide items which at best cannot be recycled and at worst may pose a hazard to our collectors and sorters.

“Any blue bins that contain plastic bags from now will be classed as contaminated and your bin will be rejected.”

A slightly more civil version appeared on the Worst Street website also told us that bin liners cannot be recycled and that recently such a bag was found to contain dozens of used hypodermic needles.

We suspect that the used needle episode is at the heart of all this – as people have been bagging rubbish to go in their blue bins for years … yet only now are we told that they are non-recyclable.

***

What used to be the simple act of throwing rubbish away has now become a minefield of rules and regulations if you live in Boston – and bin lorries are a mobile fortress in their own right.

They bristle with CCTV cameras “to reduce the risk of fraudulent claims for damages or injury, fraudulent insurance claims in respect of accidents and incidents, as well as to improve safety, efficiency, performance and customer service.”

Worst Street brags that the cameras have also been used when residents have claimed their bin has been missed – and in the vast majority of cases CCTV has shown that either the bins were not out by collection time, the wrong bins were left out or the bins were not correctly presented.

This sounds to be something of a sledgehammer to crack a nut – and as is so often the case with the Worst Street attitude to its taxpayers, assumes them to be deceitful and dishonest.

If we found our car damaged in the morning of a collection day when it wasn’t the night before, a reasonable assumption might be that it could have been caused by a council bin lorry .. and we would at least check to see if that was the case.

It’s an interesting juxtaposition of phrases that the council puts the reduction of fraud ahead of improving efficiency and places customer service last.

In the early days of the camera coverage, the council even went so far as to boast that  CCTV provided evidence of the crime of driving without due care and attention  after  an impatient car driver “put bin men in danger by overtaking the lorry on the footpath.”

***

In the past, whenever we shredded unwanted documents, we put the confetti in a plastic bag (a recyclable one, no less) and from there into our blue bin.

Now it must be bagged and put in the green household bin – where it will end up unnecessarily in landfill. Another step backwards for the Worst Street high heidyins.

***

By an interesting contrast, another episode involving discarded needles failed to get the response expected by Boston Borough Council

A local “newspaper” recently reported the story of a woman who used a nappy to remove drug needles from a park in order to protect children and pets from harm.

The report said she saw the needles in the skate park in Skirbeck Road, Boston, on a Friday lunchtime.

She said she called Boston Borough Council and was assured the two syringes would be removed.

But when she returned to the park on the next day,  she said the needles were still there.

"There were two needles at the entrance to the park. I rang the council and reported it and they said they'd be removed straight away.

"I went back on Saturday morning and they were still there.

"I was shocked to see these needles – it's just a play area.

"I took a spare nappy out of my bag and used it to pick up the needles so I didn't have to touch them with my bare hands and put them in a dog bin.

A spokesman for Boston Borough Council was quoted as saying: "We have no record of this being reported to us. It would have been an easy one to deal with as the location is opposite our environmental services depot where the staff who deal with such things are based.

"Placing the needles in a dog bin should not be done as our staff also empty those bins and then there is a risk of them being injured.”

We find it hard to imagine making a mistake about ‘phoning Worst Street – although perhaps to the list of taxpayer wrongdoings such as fraud and deceit, we would add the crime of Making Things Up

***.

The idea that if things are broken, they don’t need fixing has never really caught on in Worst Street.

Even after at long last getting a handle on providing Christmas lights in Boston by appointing a “civilian” committee to do what it couldn’t seem to manage, the meddling municipality can’t keep its grubby fingers out of the Christmas pudding.

Out of the blue – and to the surprise of some members of the Christmas lighting group – Worst Street has announced an additional festive market on Sunday 17^th December starting at 9.30am with a range of stalls and festive entertainment, and a visit from the Ice Queen and Jack Frost.

In the afternoon there will be a free screening of the film Elf in Boston Stump.

Yet again, though, the event has  a tinge of unpreparedness about it, as the Worst Street website tells us that the market still has room for more traders.

***

Talk of Christmas returns us yet again to the question of what remains from the £35,000 gifted by BTAC-ky last year to the Boston Town Team.

The lion’s share of the cost went on projecting Christmassy pictures on to the Boots and Cancer Research shops.

There has since been the matter of whether the two projectors used were 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 – but we need to find out which black hole is now home to such a large sum of taxpayers’ cash.

Nothing has been heard of Boston Town Team – part of the Lincoln-based county Chamber of Commerce – for an age.

Its website invites us to its annual general meeting in September last year – whilst the most recent entry on its Twitter page is “looking forward” to the launch of the Lego model of Boston Stump … more than a year ago.

The BTAC-ky minutes for last November’s meeting say:

“With respect to 2017, the Town Team had just met and had agreed to re-evaluate the process in January …

“… A report would be made back to BTAC, though it was recognised that the committee’s contribution had been a one-off payment …

“Costs would reduce to £13,860 in 2017 and would reduce still further in the following two years …

“ …With an early start in 2017 with respect to funding requests and a local campaign to promote sponsorship they would get more people on board.”

We’re waiting …

Perhaps someone in BTAC-ky should be asking questions.

  

***

It must be difficult playing politics when contentions issues receive publicly – but that seems to be what our MP Matt Warman is doing.

The recent data from the Office for National Statistics showing that more than 50% per cent of babies born in Boston had one foreign-born parent compared with the average across Lincolnshire of 23 % apparently prompted the comment that the figures showed that immigrants to the area were committed to their adopted country.

Mr Warman is quoted as saying: “It's common knowledge that thousands of people have come from abroad to live and make their homes in Boston – the fact that these new communities go on to have children in our local area is often testament both to their commitment to their adopted country but also to the unprecedented strain that our NHS is under.

“It's why I've continued to press for further investment in hospitals and also in schools, as well as in community integration initiatives.

“Lincolnshire's health budget is rising, but I believe it needs to rise further to deal with on-going pressures.”

Some might agree with his latter claim and question his used of the word commitment.

We couldn’t possibly comment on what is really a case of damning with faint praise.

***

Our piece last week about the diminishing availability of the Boston sub-Standard from our local shops prompted a reader to e-mail: “We asked for the Standard 5/6 weeks ago in WH Smith and were told ‘head office won’t allow us to sell it anymore!’

“What?  It can be bought from Johnson’s garden centre on Wainfleet Road if you’ve got transport!

“But the Standard really does not promote Boston in any way – you might as well call it the Lincoln standard!

“Love reading your blog – keep it up! Thanks”

 *** 

We have received some feedback from former Boston councillor Carol Taylor over our comments last week about drinking in Central Park – when we questioned the future of the planned Oktoberfest beer festival after Worst Street declared that drinking in the park was banned and cancelled a licensed bar for last week’s film shows there.

“The saga of drinking/not drinking in the park will continue due to confusion by all of us!” Ms Taylor  wrote to say.

“My interpretation of this is twofold.

“No drinking in the park to me means unlicensed/unsupervised drinking.

“Drinking of alcohol is permitted in a controlled environment under the full licensing laws.

“Perhaps I am wrong, although there seems to be no right or wrong – just different opinions.

“I agree that there should be no drinking when the events are for children.

“When it comes to Oktoberfest, it is about experiencing different types of beer in a controlled situation.

“The amount of criticism of the council is endless from the good people of Boston. 
“The council can’t get anything right no matter what they do.”

***

Every so often Boston’s former Chief Executive Mark James makes the headlines in Carmarthenshire where he moved after leaving Worst Street.

It’s inevitably controversial stuff – he recreated the Princess Royal Sports Area fiasco in Wales at a cost to the public purse of many millions of pounds, and has been involved in a long running legal wrangle with a local blogger after he took exception to her comments and sued.

Now another former chief – Nicola Bulbeck – who followed Mr James into office in 2002, is in the news after Teignbridge Council rejected a weekly newspaper’s Freedom of Information request because of the “unnecessary distress” it would cause her.

Ms Bulbeck, who served as the authority’s chief executive until June, is in the spotlight after a whistle-blower released figures which showed that she left with £160,000 towards her pension and £160,000 of redundancy pay.

Reports say she also caused “uproar” last year when she was given a 12% pay rise which saw her total pay package increase to just under £142,000.

In turning down the FoI request, the authority said the information concerned Ms Bulbeck’s private life because it related to her “identity and financial standing”.

But the newspaper now intends to appeal against the decision to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

***

Finally, the tweet below caught our eye and tickled our funny bone at the same time

We don’t know about you but this is the oddest demonstration of “action” that we’ve encountered for quite a while!

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

Cartoon photo credit: Mleesmith.com

Once in a blue moon, the idea has been trotted out that Boston should have its own town council … comprising the eight wards that currently make up the Boston Town Area Committee – BTAC-ky for short.

The last time this idea raised its head was getting on for five years ago, when councillors heard that the benefits would include increased self-determination –  whatever that means.

BTAC has special area expense powers and a precept, and a town council would be similar, but would run its own services in its own way and employ its own contractors.

It would have its own clerk, and the head of the town council would have a civic role.

It would make its own policy decisions – which would dilute the borough council’s power and influence. (chortle)

The bottom line of the debate was that the formation of a town council would make matters more complicated for the borough council and that BTAC would have to voice very positive views for it to go ahead.

On the introduction of a town council, BTAC would cease to exist. The town council would start from scratch and could choose its powers and would not automatically assume the same responsibilities.

But another interesting claim was that forming a town council would give people in the town “fair and equal democracy” to those in rural areas of the borough, “as they were disadvantaged at present.”

***

Since that last discussion, things have gone quiet, and the general assumption has been that the status quo was the best thing all round ... and so the taxpayers of the area remaian disadvantaged.

***

But now comes proof that it is possible to have your cake and eat it, as – at its meeting on Wednesday evening – plans are outlined for a shoal of new powers, funded by another bumper council tax hike.

Beneath the seemingly innocuous headline “BTAC financial position, and future resource allocations, including possible further support to help protect valued local services” comes a list of other areas which have been identified for the megalomaniacs on the committee to think about.

These are:

Events

Fenside Community Centre

Culture and Heritage related services

Town Centre maintenance

Play area equipment

Events are currently fully funded by the borough and this year’s budget is £86,000. But BTAC-ky wants to look at providing funding for this, together with an increase in the budget of a further £40,000 p.a. to support new initiatives in the town.

Spending would include funding an events assistant post to assist the £60,000 a year Town Centre Services Manager (what does he do, we wonder?) The cost of this assistant would be £19,500.

Let’s not forget that the Town Centre Manager’s empire already includes officers for arts, heritage and tourism, leisure services, partnership and sustainability, sports and play development and town centre services.

Other areas to which costs can be allocated include £57,000 for Environment and Health initiatives, £50,000 for healthy walks, holiday activity programmes and brochures, sports club and playground development and the loan of sports equipment in both the town and the wider borough, £31,000 for town centre and tourism projects, £12,000 for the Fenside Centre and the same for town centre maintenance.

BTAC-ky is also considering another two general staff to work on various tidy up/maintenance/ward level tasks costing £41,000 a year.

***

The total bill would come to almost a quarter of a million pounds – and if everything was approved from 2018/19, would mean an increase in the band D council tax of approximately 13%.

Doubtless, the power-crazed Tackies will tell us that we are being let off lightly after an increase of 94.6% in 2016 followed by a rise for the current year of 185%.

Words seldom fail us, but we think that the blatant virement of funds from the central budget using the fictitious pretext of doing more for the BTAC-ky constituency (when in reality being a puppet of the leadership to make it seem prudent by keeping its share of tax increases down) is one of the most reprehensible and dishonourable stunts that Worst Street has come up with over the years – and we’ve seen quite a few.

*** 

Add to all of the above the point that we touched on last week, which is the skimpy attendance some of the committee members, and the disdain with which the Tackies hold the taxpayers shines dazzlingly through.

When people stand for election as a councillor, they have no idea – if elected – where their talents … if they possess any … might find a home.

But if you are standing for one of the town centre wards, then membership of BTAC-ky automatically comes with the territory.

Candidates would know this before they stood – and it therefore might be reasonable to expect that they would turn up to represent the folk whose vote they so earnestly courted at election time.

It doesn’t take a minute with the above list to see just how seriously some of the committee members are thumbing their noses at the people whose vote they offered an arm and a leg for just a couple of years ago.

But now they’re in power and on a small, but steady income from their allowances, they couldn’t care less about the voters and their needs.

If  BTAC-ky is to continue in its chosen direction the wayward members need a lesson from the chairman regarding the direction known as up – and the need to respect the people who elected them.

Hands up if you think that this will ever happen.

***

Better late than never, Boston Borough Council’s website began its 

‘Countdown to Central Park film nights’ on its website on Wednesday – just one clear day before the film was to be shown.

We mentioned the event  last week when – not for the first time – we criticised the advertising of a fully licensed bar at an event essentially aimed at children, and also asked why the council was running up a shedload of expenses when it was being claimed that a local legal firm was “sponsoring” the two nights’ screenings.

We are pleased to note that someone who reads Boston Eye has taken our comments on board and acted upon them.

Two paragraphs in the “countdown” stuck out from the usual dross that Worst Street posts to make its website seem busy …

This is a family-focused event and there will not now be a licensed bar and patrons are reminded that consumption of alcohol in Central Park is not permitted.

And …

This event is supported by Chattertons Solicitors and Wealth Management.      

There is also a clear difference between to two promotional pictures …

Aside from mention of the bar, the original advert above said tickets were available from Worst Street, by ‘phone, or from the Guildhall.

The replacement had the ambiance of the bottom of a barrel being scraped …

Additional outlets listed for tickets were at the Moulder Leisure Complex and – that dreadful give away – “on the main gates on the night” … which has the deadly ring of desperation about it.

The Boston film festival might never have been likely to rival Cannes or Sundance, but without any decent pre-promotion the level of “success” could have been reasonably predicted.

Worst Street has – or rather copies – good ideas but repeatedly fails to follow through and deliver the goods.

***

Less than an hour before the start on Friday night, the turnout wasn't looking good – with around 30 people in the audience, and the setting sun almost behind the screen. However, it looked as though about 100 customers were there a bit later.

A photo posted on Twitter  also captured the luckless candidate employed to pose as Mary Poppins for the night –  at least, we assume so.

In a break with the accepted image, this  Mary carried a golf umbrella and what appeared to be a sports bag rather than a carpet bag.

***

From what we read after the showing, the start was delayed – perhaps because it was still too light – although as one attendee tweeted it was "well worth the wait."

But before the Saturday night showing, Boston Borough Council announced that "We have decided to delay the start for Saturday night due to light levels."

Without wanting to seem smug, we have to say that we highlighted this a month ago, when we drew attention to the start times of outdoor screenings in Woodhall Spa which were dependent on light levels

We even pointed out that sunset in Boston on Friday 25^th August was at  8.05pm – 35 minutes after the show was due to begin.

However, it seems that the experts knew better.

***

Given the unambiguous statement from Worst Street that “consumption of alcohol in Central Park is not permitted,” we wonder what the future holds for the planned Oktoberfest booze up in Central Part on 27^th and 28^th of that month.

Whilst it is a ticket-only event for over 18s and will be in a contained area, the rules are the rules.

We await the announcement from Worst Street to say that  the beer festival will be going ahead without beer!

***

Was it only last week that we reported that Boston’s community police inspector had “reassured” councillors that street drinking was not being reported as often, saying it had been pushed away from the town centre … but acknowledging that  it still existed.

How unfortunate then that one of our local “newspaper” websites broke the habits of a lifetime and published a story about Boston for once.

A picture of three men slumped on a bench appeared on the Boston Bible Facebook page to highlight the issue in the town. 

Unfortunately, the scene was captured just yards from the police station and the job centre in Boston town centre.

A police spokesman was quoted as saying: “Thanks to the introduction of mobile data terminals, police officers and PCSOs are encouraged to spend as little time as possible in the police station as they can now do a lot of their work on the move.

“This increases the time that officers can spend out on patrol and they will focus on areas known to have problems but do have large areas to cover and other demands for service to respond to.”

A splendid explanation – were it not for the fact that several of these officers heading out on patrol must surely have walked past the bench on their way to focus on “problem” areas.

***

A bank holiday message from Lincolnshire County Council leader Martin Hill, rightly recommends looking close to home for attractions and entertainment.

His list spans the entire county – ranging from Lincoln Castle, The Collection museum in Lincoln, to Gainsborough Old Hall, Skegness and Mablethorpe, the Wolds and Fens, and even Bourne outdoor swimming pool, where he loves cooling off on a hot day, apparently.

Looking ahead, the Stamford Georgian Festival and the South Lincolnshire Walking Festival both get a name check.

No mention of Boston at all … oops, sorry. We’ll be lumped in with the Fens, won’t we?

***

Only last month, Boston – not for the first time – was  named and shamed for being  the most overweight place in the UK, with 34% of residents classified as obese … in a study by fitness app WE:BO, using data from the Office of National Statistics.

We know that the problem has long exercised Worst Street, which has gone to great lengths and expense to encourage people to take more exercise and live healthily.

But has the council now thrown in the towel? 

 Amazingly, it devoted space on its website to tell us that  last Thursday was National Burger Day “when households across the country will be preparing to 'fire up the barbie' in anticipation of a classic August bank holiday weekend.”

But the glee at a chance to gorge didn’t end there.

WorstWeb went on to throw down the gauntlet with the news that: “Takeru Kobayashi of Japan holds the Guinness world record for 12 burgers eaten in 3 minutes, with each burger weighing 4oz!”

Perhaps this could form the basis for another Central Park “event” organised and paid for by the long-suffering BTAC-ky residents – the “Big Boston Burger Barbie  Bash … stuff yourself until you burst and win a year’s supply of pies.”

***

A comment about our mention of the Boston sub-Standard in last week’s blog prompted this response from a reader: “I cannot believe that anyone bothers to buy the sub-Standard these days, let alone read it on-line even. Surely the worst example of 'copy and paste' journalism in existence.
“They do not even take the trouble to proof read nor edit the rubbish they regularly plagiarise.
“Well done for your crusade against the lazy, trashy and clearly uneducated local media. Keep up the good work.”

Whilst we couldn’t possibly comment, we were surprised this week when we tried to buy a copy of the Standard in W H Smith.

“Sorry, we don’t sell it any more – and haven’t done for weeks,” we were told.

The same appeared to be true in Marks and Spencer, where there were ample supplies of the Target, but nothing else.

Is this the writing on the wall …?

***

Better late than never, we note a word of praise from former Prime Minister David Cameron for our MP Matt Warman.

Cameron was acting in his capacity of chairman of the board of patrons of National Citizen Service which gives 15 to 17 years-old the “chance to embark on exhilarating challenges, make your mark and build skills for work and life” – which apparently includes varnishing wooden benches.

Pass the sal volatile!

Cameron tweeted “It's great to see MPs getting stuck in and supporting @NCS in constituencies across the country.”

His comment that it’s great to see MPs getting stuck in might have more to it than face value – as Mr Warman’s right hand seems well attached to the arm of the bench!

At least it’s an improvement on the last time he took part in such a stunt just over a year ago, and pictured right, when he turned out to bend his bristles on a paint job at the Blenkin Memorial Hall – looking more like a crime scene investigator than a decorator …

***

Finally – do you remember our piece from six weeks ago, when we showed video of a spin dryer being launched into the air and roundly trashed on the garage floor at BBC Radio Lincolnshire in a stunt to demonstrate the power of an entry in the Robot Wars programme?

Well, last Friday we were taken to task by the station editor Charlie Partridge, who e-mailed to say: “Always enjoy reading Boston Eye!

“Just for clarity our BBC Radio Lincolnshire “Spin Machine” was an old tumble drier (sic) donated by a member of the team.

“So cost to the licence payer was precisely zero.

“I’m sure you would expect nothing less. 

"BBC Local Radio is parsimonious as ever.”

We're pleased to hear it.

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

This coming Friday and Saturday sees Boston Borough Council’s first attempt at staging outdoor cinema in the town – with a screening of Mary Poppins on Friday night and Despicable Me the following evening.

We’ve already commented on the maladroit decision to run a licensed bar – especially in light of the fact that these are children’s films being shown, and would have hoped that mum and dad could have been asked to manage without booze for a couple of hours.

But this is Boston, isn’t it – and presumably Worst Street recognises the difficulties involved.

***

More light has been shed on the event thanks to a Freedom of Information request by a reader who asked for a breakdown of the costs involved.

A company called Popcorn Media is supplying and operating the equipment – and is  no stranger to us locally.

The same company played a big part in the less than highly praised 2016 Christmas illuminations fiasco when it “facilitated” the purchase of Christmas lighting using the Boston Town Team’s £35,000 gift from the legendarily hopeless Boston Town Area Committee  … the equally legendarily spendthrift BTAC-ky.
Incidentally, whatever happened to that £35k spend?

Popcorn Media is charging £600 plus 20% of the takings and got the job without any of the rigorous tendering one might expect.

Worst Street explained: “A Google search was completed for companies to provide a screen. The prices varied, (and the) cheapest found was £1,200 per day.”

And what luck that an old friend of Worst Street’s was on hand with an offer that couldn’t be refused.

In the unlikely event of a full house for both showings – the maximum capacity for the event is 500 people per night – and using mum and dad plus one child as a benchmark, the two days would generate just under £5,500.

Deduct around £1,100 for the Popcorn share, plus the £600 basic fee and the profit would be around £3,900.

However, there are then the ever-present administration charges – which come to almost £1,850 … leaving £2,000-ish

Those charges?

Security – £770

Officers’ time at event – £540

First Aid – £276.00

Wristbands – £140

Toilets – £ 67.24

And finally …

Characters – £50.00 We imagine this means some poor devil dressed up in a hired costume … for which no cost is quoted.

***

Whilst our estimates are ballpark, they are based on a full house over two days with 1,000 in the audience.

When the response to the FoI request – dated 4^th August –  arrived, it reported that just 14 tickets had been sold.

That’s something like £80 in income from an event which at the very least will cost £2,500 to stage –  and with the best will in the world we cannot imagine ticket sales running into the hundreds.

What we find hard to follow is the list of Worst Street’s “expenses” when the event is said to be “Sponsored by Chattertons Solicitors and Wealth Management.”

The dictionary defines sponsorship as “the act of providing money for an activity in exchange for advertising.”

The advertising of this open air cinema is conspicuous by its absence – and are we really to believe that Chattertons is handing Boston Borough Council a cheque for the thick end of £2,000 for so little?

It’s the oddest definition of “wealth management” that we have encountered to date.

***

It seems that our so-called “newspapers” pitched up at the last meeting of the Boston Town Area Committee – BTAC-ky for short – which means that at least the wider taxpaying public managed to get a hint of what went on.

If you recall, we criticised the fact that every item on the agenda for 26^th July was presented as a verbal report – so unless taxpayers attended in person they would have no idea of what the committee was up to.

***

Several items went unreported, but what we did learn made interesting reading.

For instance, the town’s community police inspector “reassured” councillors that street drinking was not being reported as often, saying it had been pushed away from the town centre … but acknowledging that  it still existed.

***

This is precisely what many had predicted.

Making life uncomfortable for people drinking in the town centre – and nothing more than this has been achieved – has driven the district’s dipsos to where they won’t be bothered.

In the present circumstances, this means the town centre's satellite wards – where most of the BTAC-ky taxpayers live.

Boston Eye’s headquarters are in one of these areas – Skirbeck Ward.

Here we find littered streets, benches crammed with drinkers at all hours, and run down cars being sold from the roadside or drives with professionally produced marketing materials but clearly neither official nor oficially monitored.

The ward has three councillors, two of the Labour (that’s the entire party, by the way) and one unaligned former Ukipper, Stephen Ball  – and as far as we can tell they are all quite content with the way things are … as we haven’t heard them say otherwise.

Whilst the Labour contingent manages reasonable attendance levels, Councillor Ball is listed as having missed nine out of the ten meetings where his attendance was anticipated since February – including every one of the eight BTAC-ky meetings so far this year, and going back still further, to November 2015.

No-one seems to bat an eyelid at this – the rule is that if a councillor fails to attend meetings for six months he or she gets the old heave-ho and a by-election is called.

But attending just enough meetings to keep the allowances rolling in is apparently not considered in reprehensible –  but is certainly an insult to the electorate who were promised better.
More on BTAC-ky attendances in our next blog.

***

These days of course, BTA-ky has bigger fish to fry.

Its once humble role as a “parish” council for the in-town wards became history when it took over responsibility for areas such as Central Park and the town’s toilets – thus enabling the borough bigwigs to present a squeaky clean balance sheet by shifting their responsibilities away from the central accounting.

To fund all this, in 2016 BTAC-ky approved a council tax rise of 94.6%, followed by a rise for the current year of 185%.

This equates to an increased charge for a Band A taxpayer, who last year paid £8.48 to BTAC-ky, to £46.63 – a greedy and excessive sum.

To celebrate its self-aggrandisement the committee even splashed out the thick end of £500 to create its own logo – after all, when you become big league, you flaunt the fact.

At the time the 2016 rip-off was proposed we wrote to every member of the 14 strong committee to protest.

Only two had the politeness to reply – which again speaks volumes.

One of them was the mayor at the time, Stephen Woodliffe, who told us: “BTAC may have its powers and responsibilities extended and enhanced … personally, I hope it does, as the rural parishes have greater independence of decision-making than BTAC currently enjoys.”

One point that we raised was the inability of many residents to find the extra money needed, as several town centre wards are listed as among the most deprived in the borough.

Indeed, until Boston Big Local started throwing money here, there and everywhere as well, its remit was also to improve the quality of life for many of the self-same people dis-served so enthusiastically by BTAC-ky.

But this failed to strike a sympathetic chord with Councillor Woodliffe,

“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 …

“…  it is my view that a charge of £1 a week on a band D property, 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”

***

The definition of attractive and pleasant is one that requires serious consideration. As we said earlier, our home ward is home to litter, dirty streets, bins overflowing with empty drink cans and bottles – and that sinking feeling of being not quite safe as groups of boisterous drinkers bestride the footpaths … or as we saw the other day, a solo drunkard almost clawing his way along the street by clinging to gates, walls or anything else to make progress.

The failure to recognise what should be its real duty was well illustrated in another episode at the last BTAC-ky meeting

The same police inspector who delivered the mixed message about drinking told councillors that he plans to arrange a food market for locally-based restaurants following police participation in a stunt early last month when Eastern European shops and supermarkets helped “educate  people from other nationalities” about the range of food that is available in Boston.

Immediately, Councillor Woodliffe whipped out the taxpayers’ wallet.

“Obviously you are trying to change culture and attitudes,” he is quoted as saying.

“My thing is that we as BTAC can help financially, what are the things we can do to support you and your wonderful work?”

Your guess as to quite what it is about this work that is “wonderful”  rather than tokenistic is as good as ours – and we are not happy that Councillor Woodliffe feels that he has the right to offer money in this way for something that is little more than a back of a fag packet calculation at the moment.

It also assumes that local people want their “culture and attitudes” compulsorily changed.

The police and the Worst Street Wanderers should keep their sticky fingers off our attitudes.

George Orwell’s prescient novel 1984 highlighted the role of the Thought Police – which existed who discover and punish thoughtcrime – unapproved personal and political thoughts … which could be taken to mean unapproved  “culture and attitudes” as seen from the Worst Street and Lincoln Lane viewpoints.

***

Meanwhile, BTAC-ky is adverting for ideas for more community events – especially ones that could develop into annual affairs.

Committee Chairman Councillor Nigel Welton said: “… we really want the public to take the lead on this. I'm hoping they will put forward ideas that we can then help turn into realities.”

We regard this as BTAC-ky’s final abdication of its “proper” role – and instead to turn itself into an entertainment committee.

Doubtless committee members will soon get a cap and bells allowance to replace the more traditional allowance that they have received to date.

***

It seems as though Worst Street has again taken the bait and helped one of our local newspapers make bricks without straw during the Silly Season.

Beneath the headline 'Stop slagging off Boston, it's a great place to live! followed by a tag which reads Officials have hit back against scathing online reviews of the town the Boston off-Target – aka Lincolnshire Live – tells us…

“Politicians have poured scorn on scathing and ‘unfair’ reviews of Boston which label the town a ‘hot bed of degenerates’.

“Described as a ‘chav stronghold’ where ‘petty crime is rife’ and local people have ‘failed to evolve’, the town has been subjected to a glut of highly negative online reviews.

“Disgruntled homeowners and visitors have attacked Boston on the notorious ‘iLiveHere' UK website which gives people the chance to sound off about the state of places they live and travel to.”

The story goes on to quote some of the more colourful comments before reporting a response from council leader Michael Cooper, who “has told the haters to buck up their ideas and stop running down the town.

 “Stuff like this is no help at all – it is not fair – we have got such a bad deal.

“A lot of the reviews are very inaccurate and should be taken down.

“Some of these people need to go out and look at some other towns if they think Boston is a bad, I travel to places all the time where half the high street is boarded up.

“There are more and more employment opportunities coming up, businesses being built and houses on the way.

“Boston is a great place to live.”

***

If only Councillor Cooper had taken a closer look at the offending website he could have told the Target to stick its head up a bear’s bum and possibly killed the story at birth rather than fighting a rearguard action.

The latest undated piece in question is just one of 10  posted anonymously over a very, very long time – and by its very nature, comments made on the site are bigoted and uncomplimentary.

Whilst the subject of the report may have been posted fairly recently, most of them go back over years – in one case the oldest dates from 2004 – thirteen years ago

That’s not a story.

That’s history.

Why on earth the Target dredged this up is anyone’s guess – and  it really should be ashamed.

But it has already achieved what we assume was the general idea.rubbish that was written almost at the end of the last century.

***

Unfortunately, Councillor Cooper’s comments that: “There are more and more employment opportunities coming up, businesses being built and houses on the way” come at an inauspicious time.

Local reports say that Asda has confirmed that 175 of its 381 Boston staff are being talked to about their future – and that 10% of the staff in the process could lose their jobs...

Meanwhile, we read that almost 4,000 staff at Wilko nationwide are at risk as part of a major overhaul to boost profits.

***

And to rub salt into the wound, Oldrids – established in Boston more than 200 years ago and a lynchpin of the town – is reported to have announced a £125 million superstore proposal including 107 outlets, a leisure complex and business hub … IN GRANTHAM.

Downtown Grantham is taking on another company in a fight to be the chosen location for the town’s designer outlet village to open in 2019 and which would create 1,700 jobs

Managing director Richard Broadhead is reported as saying: “We’re confident that this is great news for Grantham. We believe in this – we are serious and we’re going to deliver it.

“We are part of Grantham, we are important to Grantham and Grantham is important to us ..

 “ … this is an opportunity to create something special. This is a vote of confidence in Grantham.”

Reports say that the Downtown board believes there is scope for a railway station to be built on the nearby Nottingham-Skegness line and that Network Rail, supports the idea.

Current bus links between the town and store could be increased to promote travel into the town centre, while a ‘park and ride’ scheme is also a possibility.

***

As the boss says – it’s great news for Grantham.

Can we ever hope for some for Boston?

***

Here, meanwhile, Worst Street continues its policy of staying behind the times with the announcement of a “New website to open Borough up to the world” – a visitor website to you and me.

Predictably, our councillors are slapping each other on the back for what is – whilst a quite presentable piece of work – a pretty bog standard website.

Top of the quotes comes from Councillor Claire Rylott – hailed as the “champion” of the site – for the line: “Marketing is paramount to success.”

Worryingly whilst Worst Street will host the site and update some parts of it, we are told that it will be community owned.

This sounds as though Worst Street, having started the ball rolling now wants as little to do with it as possible – and we fear that it will go the way of the borough’s Roll of Achievement  … never very interesting and dead in the water for donkey’s years.

***

With websites like this the matter of detail is very important.

Visitors drawn to the town might look up at Boston Stump and speculate whether some architectural disaster has overtaken it.

Why?

The Stump has a tower.

Not a spire. 

***

Finally, another of those headlines that make us smile – this time courtesy of the Boston sub-Standard.

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Thanks for the warning – we’ll just have some birthday cake if it’s ok with you and skip the toast!

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