Stands the clock
at half past four
And Skirbeck Tory is no more.
With
almost surgical precision, Alastair Arundell’s meteoric rise and fall from soaring
rocket to damp squib was announced at exactly 4-30pm last Tuesday 15th
October.
***
Elected in
May for the first time, Mr Arundell was appointed portfolio holder for the town
centre, then moved further up the command chain to take on the portfolio for tourism,
arts, culture and heritage.
At one time there were mutterings that he might even be in line to be elevated to deputy leader should there
be a reshuffle – just a heartbeat away from the presidency.
***
When
leader Aaron Spencer last tweaked his portfolio holders’ line-up, he said that
he didn’t plan changing his cabinet in the immediate future, and pledged a
staged process of “working together,” which would be a two-way process, for the
benefit of Boston.
Given the
narrow choice of new candidates, might this be the time to co-opt a non-Tory
party member on board?
We wait
with bated breath.
***
Meanwhile, in a warm and touching tribute to his former colleague, Councillor Spencer wrote on Twitter: “I'm
saddened that @CllrAArundell has decided to resign from his position within
@Bostonboro.
“It's been
a pleasure to work alongside Alistair over the last 5 months, however I respect
his decision to not let residents down due to his work commitments.
***
But back
to Mr Arundell’s departure.
In a
statement published last Tuesday 15th, he declared:
Over the
last 5 months as a Councillor, I feel I have gained a huge knowledge into a
side of Boston Borough Council that I wasn’t aware of, prior to being elected.
A
considerable amount of hard work goes into ensuring our town has the facilities
it does, and I was proud to have the opportunity to better it further.
However,
due to personal circumstances, after discussing with Councillor Aaron Spencer,
Leader of the Council, I have decided to resign from my position with immediate
effect. 4.30pm 15th oct.
I thank
the residents in Skirbeck ward for electing me back in May, and wish all
colleagues the best of luck for the future.
Boston is
a marvellous town with huge potential, and I’m confident that, working with the
residents, it can thrive again.
People
who know me understand I give 100 percent to anything I do and with the latest
business acquisition I don’t feel I could now give that as I just won’t have
the time and understand that this is not fair to the wonderful people of
Boston.
Thank you
so much for your support, I will never forget it.
So what
was that support?
Below is
the result of the election in May, when nine candidates contested the three
seats.
The 2,736
votes cast produced the lowest turnout of any ward in the vote and represented 22.4%
of the electorate.
Along with
Alastair Arundel two ‘Independents’ were elected – although they subsequently
unmasked themselves as members of the Bostonian Independents Group, and
therefore a pseudo party rather than truly independent.
Nonetheless,
they created a local website – which has not been updated since 19th
May, so they’ve been busy, haven’t they?
***
Skirbeck could be an interesting ward when an election date is set.
As you can
see from May’s results there were two other Tory candidates, three Labour, and
one Blue Revolution.
***
Back in
2015, the result looked like this …
Kipper
Stephen Ball subsequently slipped sideways into Boston BiG, and ‘distinguished’
himself with one of the worst attendance records of recent years.
Labour’s
Paul Gleeson – a veteran with a good reputation as a councillor, lost out last
time, and Tory Martin Griggs sought successful re-election in another seat
rather than risk re-election in Skirbeck
for a second time.
***
Of the
remainder, the only other wannabee to try again was Labour’s Paul Kenny a former
mayor and prospective parliamentary candidate at the last four general
elections.
***
So, we can
probably bet on a Conservative and Labour entry; perhaps a Blue Revolution,
and maybe even a Brexit bid.
Interesting
times ahead.
***
Whilst
Alistair Arundell made his mark in a rapid space of time in Worst Street, his
disappearance was even quicker.
This was
his entry on the Worst Street website of councillors early the morning after he quit.
***
So why did
he decide to go?
It’s been
said that the idea had been in his mind for a while – though having only been in
office for 23 weeks one has to ask - why
bother to stand in the first place?
***
One part
of his farewell missive to voters cites “personal circumstances,” while another
speaks of his latest business acquisition which he says means “I just won’t have the
time” for the council.
***
An interesting
sidebar to the time frame is that after Mr Arundell’s resignation at 4-30pm,
an e-mailed response to an official complaint was disclosed to Boston Eye that was sent on behalf of Chief Executive Phil Drury less than 20 minutes later.
The
complaint was made after the October meeting of BTAC-ky and alleged that during an item
concerning next year’s events “there were several failures in declaration of
interest – in particular Councillor Arundell’s failure to speak and propose an
item without declaring he was the relevant portfolio holder.”
***
The reply
stated: “I am satisfied that Councillor Arundell was at BTAC in his capacity as
a member of the committee by virtue of being a ward member for the Skirbeck
ward. He sat at the table and
participated as such. In this respect I do not see that there was any ‘interest’
which prevented him in engaging fully in any discussions on matters which, by
coincidence, fell within the remit of his areas as Portfolio Holder.
“Specifically, Cabinet members, who are also members of BTAC, should not be disadvantaged in representing their electorate. If and when any referrals from BTAC to the Executive which fall outside of the scope of the delegated decision-making process are considered, that will be the point at which members should consider making any declarations of interest. In this case BTAC was not the decision maker and the recommendation will be considered by Cabinet on 23rd October.
“Specifically, Cabinet members, who are also members of BTAC, should not be disadvantaged in representing their electorate. If and when any referrals from BTAC to the Executive which fall outside of the scope of the delegated decision-making process are considered, that will be the point at which members should consider making any declarations of interest. In this case BTAC was not the decision maker and the recommendation will be considered by Cabinet on 23rd October.
***
Which
brings us on to that BTAC-ky meeting …
***
Last week,
we highlighted the news that because of the Boston May Fair, Worst Street would
be unable to recognise the importance of the 75th anniversary of VE
Day – even though the government has especially moved the day from Monday 4th
to the weekend commencing Friday 8th May to encompass the anniversary date itself and the thousands of celebrations being organised.
***
Despite
impressions to the contrary, events in Boston borough are planned and organised
and mostly financed by the town’s ‘parish council’ – otherwise known as
BTAC-ky.
***
The last
meeting of the committee heard a report from Worst Street’s ‘Head of Place and
Space’ (no, don’t laugh … imagine answering the question ‘so what do you
do?’) which gave an update on plans for the coming financial year.
***
So
ambitious have these become that the committee agreed to stump up an extra
£27,000 over and above the £40,000 budget allocated for events.
***
As he
boasted in his blog, whilst he was still a councillor, Alistair Arundel was
happy to support the plans, saying: “The public perception of this town can often
be judged on its events. Whilst we’ve had great events in the past, they can
often linger on and become a bit of a legacy. I encouraged all members to
support me in offering an additional £27k to the events budget.”
At a later
point, he added: “I’m keen to help the Boston Bike Night Committee to develop,
by increasing their volunteer numbers to assist with stewarding.”
We can
understand that, as in his register of pecuniary interests he lists his role in
organising Boston Bike Night at ‘100%.’
***
Among the
events that will be new to the town are a ‘Teenage Market’ – something we first
suggested as long ago as 2016.
Sometime
after that it fell into the arthritic hands of the ‘Preposterous (they named it
Prosperous) Boston’ committee and then there was talk of a crowdfunding appeal to
to try to raise £1,000 to stage an event until eventually it was declared that
the idea had no support here.
Now, after
all this time, ‘working with Lincoln University’ and paying £1,000 for the
privilege, an event is at last on the agenda.
But why
are we paying Lincoln University when we have a thriving and ambitious college
on our doorstep.
Anyone care
to answer?
***
A new item
in the pipeline is something called ‘Boston Show including Through the Ages’
which is committed for 2020 and set to cost £18,000.00, and the resurrection of
a ‘Party in the Park’ costing £12,000.
***
The report
by HOPAS (there’s an acronym for him!) explains that the Christmas market and lights
switch-on event was fully funded through the Controlling Migration Fund
programme, which comes to an end this financial year.
“This
event will add cost to the programme going forward and if the current BTAC
budget was to be maintained the programme would have to be reduced for the
2020/21 financial year.”
This means
that next year’s Christmas Market/Lights Switch on and Illuminate Parade will
be funded by BTAC-ky to the tune of £14,500 – even though it is still
claimed to be the work of ‘volunteers.’
That’s a lot
of jingle bells!
***
The point
has been made that no one on BTAC-ky questioned how the figures were reached –
and that none of the councillors present bothered to ask.
***
This
prompted a Freedom of Information request asking for a breakdown of how the cost
of each event was arrived at.
***
The answer
was jaw-dropping.
It simply
said: “With the exception of a payment to Lincoln University for £750 for their
provision in the teenage market (it says £1,000 in the budget) we do not hold a
detailed breakdown of the information requested.
“The
reason being, the figure reported at the BTAC meeting was based on 2019 spend
and is therefore a prediction for 2020/21.
***
This is
known in the trade as budgeting on the back of a fag packet.
But what
the reply fails to acknowledge is that as least two events – the Boston Show
and the Party in the Park, which between them will guzzle up £30,000, or the
entire ‘extra’ money needed for the full budget list – have not been staged
before … and therefore have no financial history from which to ‘predict.’
***
Once upon
a time, BTAC-ky existed for the betterment of the mostly poor wards that it
represented.
Then it
developed big ideas and ramped up its share of the council tax wrung from those
people to create an annual budget of £700,000 – of which events now account for almost 10%.
Interestingly
in what might be considered the good old days for council taxpayers, the BTAC precept
requirement five years ago was £114,000 – and now includes countless thousands paying
for the work once covered by the central budget.
***
Not only
has BTAC-ky failed in its original constitutional pledge, but things look set
to get worse.
***
According
to HOPAS: “BTAC policy set in 2017/18 determined that the events programme for the
2019/20 financial year be focused on BTAC residents and the corresponding
programme to date has generally comprised of a mix of community-based events
that provide families with opportunities that may not otherwise be easily
affordable …
“… Members
of BTAC at its 20th March 2019 [sic] suggested that going forward;
the Committee should now try to take steps to hold major events in Boston that attract
people from further afield.
“It was
also reported that the current capacity within the Events Team was sufficient
to deliver the 2019/20 programme; however, any ambition to expand the events
programme further was likely to require additional resource …
***
So, increasingly irrelevant
spending now looks likely to end in at least one more expensive extra officer
post – or perhaps more.
By a
strange happenstance, dates are something of a feature this week …
A week
ago, leader Aaron Spencer announced plans to meet his opposite number at
Lincoln City Council to discuss problems cause by people urinating and
defecating in the street.
***
Barely had
the ink dried on his tweet, when one of our local ‘news’ websites was
trumpeting a cunning plan to tackle the problem.
Mr Spencer was
quoted as saying that he was keen to find a permanent solution and has
suggested open air urinals might be the best approach to tackle the problem.
He was
quoted thus: “I know Paris has an issue with street urination in tourism hot spots
and they've introduced a urinal in the street.
“The
urinals have flowers on top of them so that they are somewhat discreet.”
***
Councillor
Spencer is a little adrift when it comes to the history of the pissoir.
Whilst he
makes the Parisian solution sound to be relatively recent, the encyclopaedia
tells us: “In the spring of 1830 the city government of Paris decided to
install the first public urinals on the major boulevards.
“These
structures served both as urinals and supports for posters and advertising. “They
were put in place by the summer, but in July they were put to a completely
different purpose; providing materials for street barricades during the French
Revolution of 1830.”
***
The idea
has been tried over here – and among the councils to dabble in the pissoir
business was Chester … which caused public outrage when these monstrosities were
used experimentally some years ago.
Not only
are they unsightly, but the idea attracted criticism from women – for obvious reasons.
Can you
imagine a load of these dotted around the town centre?
No, nor
can we.
***
And a key point
that Councillor Spencer is overlooking is that if people won’t use the toilets when they’re open round-the-clock, why would they use metal monstrosities like
the ones above?
And if
they trashed the 24/7 loos – won’t they find a big zinc box standing in the
street an easy item to overturn.
***
In recent
weeks we have seen Worst Street councillors approve more money for the Mayor –
whilst the First Citizen himself has been banging on about the importance of
the role and how it should have even more power that the none that it has
already.
***
In the circumstances,
ought it not to have been the case that the annual Mayor’s Sunday on October 13th
at Boston Stump should have been groaning at the pews beneath the combined weight
of of the towns grate and good.
***
But it
seems that the date was unlucky for some – notably the mayor according to an
account by Boston BiG spokesman Councillor Brian Rush.
***
“There
must have been a really, ‘big day’ somewhere in the Borough for Boston's 30 elected
councillors,” he wrote on Facebook, “because this was 'The Mayor's
Sunday', when Councillor. Anton Dani and his lovely wife Maria invited councillors,
officers, and guests, to join him in respectful thanks and celebration, of his
term of office, in our glorious St. Botolph's Church.
“Mayor’s
Sunday is an established, annual part of the mayoral calendar, and is
specifically local,” he reminded us before going on to say that just ten
councillors joined the mayor for the event.
“No
Leader, no Deputy Leader, and I believe only Councillor Martin Griggs as a cabinet
member.
“I am
bound to say that I was very disappointed, by how little support was shown by
the majority of our elected members.
“Councillor
Dani, in my view, bravely demonstrated a great level of respect for the
historic traditions of our mayoralty, and our Borough, and is a credit to our administration.
“An
official public apology is called for.”
***
As one of
our councillors might phrase it – you can’t have your cake and eat it – and it
reeks of hypocrisy when councillors support a big pay rise for the mayor
(presumably in the hope that one day their turn will come, as the role depends
not on quality, but quantity of service) then can’t be bothered to support the traditions
because it’s their day off.
Incidentally,
whilst the event used to involve an element of public interaction, and the hoi-polloi
would turn out to see a bit of a procession – not even the Worst Street website
could be bothered to mention that it was going on.
***
Ironically
for Councillor Rush, he fell victim to the reverse situation during his
mayoral year in 2017.
To try to cut
down on the annual mayoral budget of £80,000 a year he staged a ‘Meet the Mayor’
event at the White Hart Hotel, and decided to foot the bill from his own pocket
– rather than dump it on the council taxpayers.
Attendance
was subject to pre-booking – and although 45 people asked to come along, 83
turned up!
As we said at the time, this
perfectly demonstrated the ignorance and thoughtlessness of many of the self-styled
great and good of Boston, who presumably thought that turning up unannounced
didn’t matter as it was only the taxpaying punters who would have to take the
hit.
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
