The Audit Commission "Oneplace" organisational assessment report on Boston Borough Council came out last week, and before its publication, we thought that the best way we might simplify it would be to split it up along the lines of the movie title "The good ... the Bad ... and the Ugly."
Unfortunately. as is so often the case with Boston, the list doesn't have anything you could put in the file marked good, so here we go with Boston Borough Council - the Bad and the Ugly.
The report says the council performs poorly because of lack of leadership until very recently and a lack of capacity at a senior level. In recent years plans have not been completed when expected, there has been a track record of services not being planned properly and the needs of local people have not been taken into full consideration. Performance does not meet the Council's own targets and the process for managing performance is not fully used or enforced. Unless capacity at a senior level is addressed and scrutiny is enhanced, further improvement will be difficult to achieve.
The council scores one out of four for Managing Performance, Use of Resources, Governing the Business and Managing Resources. It only bounces off the bottom with its rating for managing finances - with a stonking two out of four.
At senior management level there is lack of capacity and resources to drive improvements forward, and staff feel they are not getting the leadership they need to support the direction the council is going in.
But the report says the council has recognised major improvements are needed and has set up an Improvement Board to help with what it needs to do.
Areas of improvement include the Into Town bus services. Other schemes such as the government Swim4life initiative, ‘fit kids' programmes, and walking groups are giving residents the opportunity to get fitter. More plans to offer a healthier lifestyle such as healthy eating campaigns are being made.
The town centre has undergone a big clean up involving local groups and residents. Keeping it clean is now the challenge.
Improvements to the market place have resulted in occupancy going up and market traders taking over the running of the market stalls.
While residents are more satisfied with the area as a place to live and believe the community is getting on better together, Boston is still well below the national average. The number of people who feel drink and drugs are an issue in open spaces has also reduced but are still at a level most residents would feel are unacceptable.
It's all pretty bleak, really, and we get the feeling that the Audit Commission is trying desperately to find something to brand as positive to avoid total condemnation of the council.
Whilst we thought the best thing to do would be to step aside and let someone else take on the council's leadership, Richard Austin has managed to find light at the end of the tunnel as you might expect.
"I'm glad to say it does show that the council, working with other public authorities, is delivering against some of the areas' priorities - namely improving transport, decreasing traffic congestion and improving health.
"The organisational assessment, of which the council was already fully aware, makes it clear for residents the scale of the challenge we are dealing with and the need to improve.
"We are in the process of delivering an improved council and changing the culture of the authority. It is my belief that by working with a voluntary Improvement Board we will improve the value for money the council provides for residents and improve the council's performance quickly and effectively.
"I'm confident that our organisational assessment in 12 months' time will show the improvement our residents expect and deserve."
You can read the report for yourself by following the link here
But pour yourself a stiff drink first.
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
Monday, December 14
Friday, December 11
Week ending 11th December ...
Our Friday miscellany of the week's news and eventsWhy the Secret Squirrel mentality ... The news that the Borough's Acting Chief Executive is to have his tenure extended until October next year is another of those items surrounded in unnecessary secrecy. The decision was taken at the Full Council meeting on November 9th, after a paper entitled "Management Structure" was considered in secret, and was not announced for a month afterwards. Did such secrecy imply a lack of confidence that the appointment would be extended thus making a debate necessary? Of course not. Richard Harbord was a popular choice back in August, and unless lightning strikes twice in the same place, there was no reason to assume that he was doing anything other than a good job. So why the secrecy? We think it's just because councillors like the idea of intrigue. - and that perhaps its time they grew out of it. Incidentally, the last we heard from the ACE was on the day he started work. Any chance of a proclamation on how things are going four months in?
Blogged down in the mire ... Blogging by our elected members seems to have hit something of a fallow period recently, but we hope that those councillors who do will start writing more (and more often) again soon. The Leader's brief attempt at blogging on the council's webpage has been replaced by an ad hoc "Message" which is now a month out of date, and there is no news on whether he will start a personal blog at some point. However, this is all an improvement on the almost forgotten Lib Dem hopeful Mike Sheridan-Shinn, whose "vote for me" blog still promises the launch of phase two of the Boston North West by-election campaign last October which "is very exciting and I know my supporters will like it."
Higher politics - 1 ... Boston Lib Dem MEP Bill Newton-Dunn was more than happy to snuggle up to Sir Paul McCartney when he visited the European Parliament to present his argument for a Meat-Free Monday, which asks everyone to go vegetarian for one day a week. The MP who turned his back on the Tories when he thought William Hague hadn't got a chance obviously feel that sucking up to Macca is a good source of brownie points ... but we doubt it will win him any votes.
Higher politics -2 ... We think that whoever produces the occasional newsletter put out by our MP Mark Simmonds should take a look at pictures before captioning them. "Mark presents a donation to staff at St Barnabas Hospice" shows him loafing up against a sign. "Mark helps local farmers with the pea harvest..." shows him standing as a lord-of-all-he-surveys from the balcony on a pea viner, whilst "Mark tours local businesses ..." shows him standing around in ASDA - that famous local business. Almost every caption tells a story that the photo doesn't. Perhaps its an innate habit among politicians.
Dig this ... We had to smile at a report to next week's borough cabinet recommending spending £25,000 on infrastructure works at Cuckoo Land to turn it into allotments. Among the reasons given are to cater for unmet demand from local allotment holders, to promote "grow your own" and physical activity as part of the healthy lifestyles agenda, to promote the growing of local produce to reduce “food miles” and carbon emissions and to encourage a sense of belonging and pride. We wonder what the allotment holders evicted from Broadfield Lane might have to say about that - especially as they were thrown out with such indecent haste to make way for housing developments that now seem unlikely to take place.
Lookalike of the week ... Earlier this week we reported on last Friday's County Council meeting (which is more than our local papers did.) A propos of nothing at all we noticed a remarkable resemblance between the Highways supremo Councillor William Webb, and Mr Jolliman, who models clothing for gentlemen of a certain age. What do you think?
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
Thursday, December 10
New attack on Strait Bargate "to fight crime"
A reader took us to task the other day after our piece in which we criticised what we thought was the sledgehammer approach to policing in Boston in the run-up to Christmas .
"Whilst I agree with your opinions and articles 99% of the time," he wrote, "all I hear from people, almost daily is we don't see enough police in Boston. I would be interested to listen to what people say leading up to Xmas about the high visibility policing in Boston. There are many times I try to do my job as a citizen reporting groups of drunks in the park or in alleyways, etc, to the police. Half an hour later I walk or drive past and nothing has been done. So, personally I'm in favour if indeed all it does is send out a message of zero tolerance."
We replied saying that we were actually singing from the same hymn sheet. "Our constant complaint is also the absence of officers on the street.
What we're saying here is that the police response to Christmas is disproportionate, and treats ordinary folk as potential criminals. What the police are doing is making the traditional seasonal noises expected of them at this time of year. It's largely a PR stunt in our view. It the same with homeless people - we only ever hear about their
plight at Christmas. The question we asked at the end of the piece is the key. If the cops can muster all this visibility for two weeks of the year, why can't they do it the rest of the time?"
We stand by this. In fact we feel that that the police have underlined their often quirky approach to crime prevention in recent days.
Under the headline "Police determined to combat criminals this Christmas," the Boston Standard told us: ""Badger Bill has been out and about helping to promote
Boston Police's new safer Christmas shopping campaign. PCSO Paul Lote donned the badger outfit to help draw attention to shoppers in Asda to the help and advice that was given for the festive period."
So for "combating criminals," read "dressing up as a giant badger."
It's obvious when you think about it, isn't it?
And pity poor Strait Bargate.
After the news that CCTV cameras in Boston have helped the police to make 709 arrests in the past 12 months, we're told that to ensure a good level of coverage a number of trees will be pruned in Strait Bargate, which will improve the line of sight for CCTV cameras.
First the Into Town buses render the shopping centre hostile to shoppers.
Now attractive trees are to be mutilated to make life easier for our deskbound bobbies.
Whatever your view on crime prevention, surely, you must agree that this is a step too far.
We think it's time to argue the case against policing by cliche, and ask Boston's invisible (for most of the year) force to do what everyone wants them to do ....
Does it not occur to them that what people want to see is an increased street presence?
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
PS We haven't forgotten the Audit Commission's "Oneplace" report on Boston. Check out our blog on Monday.
"Whilst I agree with your opinions and articles 99% of the time," he wrote, "all I hear from people, almost daily is we don't see enough police in Boston. I would be interested to listen to what people say leading up to Xmas about the high visibility policing in Boston. There are many times I try to do my job as a citizen reporting groups of drunks in the park or in alleyways, etc, to the police. Half an hour later I walk or drive past and nothing has been done. So, personally I'm in favour if indeed all it does is send out a message of zero tolerance."
We replied saying that we were actually singing from the same hymn sheet. "Our constant complaint is also the absence of officers on the street.
What we're saying here is that the police response to Christmas is disproportionate, and treats ordinary folk as potential criminals. What the police are doing is making the traditional seasonal noises expected of them at this time of year. It's largely a PR stunt in our view. It the same with homeless people - we only ever hear about their
plight at Christmas. The question we asked at the end of the piece is the key. If the cops can muster all this visibility for two weeks of the year, why can't they do it the rest of the time?"
We stand by this. In fact we feel that that the police have underlined their often quirky approach to crime prevention in recent days.
Under the headline "Police determined to combat criminals this Christmas," the Boston Standard told us: ""Badger Bill has been out and about helping to promote
Boston Police's new safer Christmas shopping campaign. PCSO Paul Lote donned the badger outfit to help draw attention to shoppers in Asda to the help and advice that was given for the festive period."
So for "combating criminals," read "dressing up as a giant badger."
It's obvious when you think about it, isn't it?
And pity poor Strait Bargate.
After the news that CCTV cameras in Boston have helped the police to make 709 arrests in the past 12 months, we're told that to ensure a good level of coverage a number of trees will be pruned in Strait Bargate, which will improve the line of sight for CCTV cameras.
First the Into Town buses render the shopping centre hostile to shoppers.
Now attractive trees are to be mutilated to make life easier for our deskbound bobbies.
Whatever your view on crime prevention, surely, you must agree that this is a step too far.
We think it's time to argue the case against policing by cliche, and ask Boston's invisible (for most of the year) force to do what everyone wants them to do ....
Does it not occur to them that what people want to see is an increased street presence?
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
PS We haven't forgotten the Audit Commission's "Oneplace" report on Boston. Check out our blog on Monday.
Wednesday, December 9
What they asked - and what they were told
Yesterday we gave you the highlights from last Friday's Lincolnshire County Council meeting.
Today, we give you the local questions word for word, so you can see which of our County Councillors have taken the time to raise Boston issues in a way that the entire county representation can hear.
And you can hear the answers as well and see how the people who hold the keys to Boston's future regard our humble borough.
First came a question for the county's highways supremo Councillor William Webb , who was asked by Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire:-
"In light of the recent articles in the Boston papers by the Bypass Party, Councillors Ray Newell and Richard Austin, could Councillor Webb please explain why has LCC actually failed to honour its statutory and legal highway commitments to Boston, which Councillor Newell claims in his article to be the largest town in the county, with the road infrastructure that a sub regional centre requires. Could also any light be thrown on claims by Councillor Newell that Lincolnshire County Council actually apparently grabbed nearly 80% of the council tax that Boston council taxpayers contribute, which indeed, apparently over thirty years he claims could have built ten bypasses - I think we actually only need one.
"Councillor Webb, could you please identify also where the second bypass is that Councillor Newell refers to in Spalding in his article, and also a bypass for Stamford in fact Councillor Richard Austin informs me through the local paper that it is not the LDF (Local Development Framework) or his administration which is holding up the bypass for Boston - apparently this information is incompetent and naive it is the coastal st... (interruption) the coastal strategy ... (Chairman interrupts whoever is interrupting) Are these claims true, and if so what is Lincolnshire Council doing to progress the long awaited Boston Bypass?"
Councillor William Webb replied: "Deep down I think this question is actually asking how are road schemes funded? And in fact there are three main mechanisms. One is through the regional funding allocation, the second one is through growth points and the third point, part is through private investment. Let me talk immediately about Boston and say that a distributor road for Boston is int, int, integrally linked to land allocation through the immersion, emerging, local development framework and the transport strategy funding allocation was reviewed in 2009 and funding was reassigned to release £300,000 to assist Boston Borough Council to progress their local development framework to include a distributor road. That I think answers the first part of the question. Secondly as far as council tax is concerned only a very small proportion of the council tax collected actually goes towards highways - don't quote me on this, (!!) but I believe it's as low as six per cent of the pot that we collect of that actually goes towards maintenance of making sure that the roads themselves are maintained and the street lights have electricity to them erm but the point is that the rest of the council tax funding goes towards the provision of children's services, adult social care, fire and rescue service, waste disposal, library services etc. Highways only gets an infi, infinitesimal part of the council tax collected by the boroughs and districts. On the third point apparently we have bypasses springing up all over the county .... well I can tell you that this is not the case. We are working at the moment on a bypass for the eastern part of Lincoln. That will be funded from the regional allocation. we are also looking at a further scheme, it has to be said in Spalding, but this will be entirely on the back of large developments from the point of view of housing and also industrial development in Spalding - and it will be funded by that mechanism. As far as bypasses for other places, I've heard Stamford mentioned, (but) I can assure you at the moment that is no more than aspirational.
The second question concerning Boston came from Councillor Ramonde Newell, who sensibly used notes this time rather than last time's extempore speech, which caused some hilarity at the time.
He asked: "Will the risk to the people of Boston be increased, and their protection reduced with the removal of the flood warning sirens in Boston? The sirens protect the people of Boston 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. The sirens have a warning in all languages. The sirens have successfully warned of danger for very many years. Those at particular risk are children, the elderly, those with a disability or a mobility problem, the sick and the thousands upon thousands of foreign nationals in Boston. They, I understand speak 64 languages. I only know, personally one flood warden in Boston -- hundreds will be needed. Is this council guaranteeing to continue to warn and to protect all the people of Boston?"
A reply came from Councillor Eddie Poll, Executive Councillor for Economic Development, and although we promised word for word coverage, there was so much waffle, that we are forced to summarise.
The core of his response was to say: "The removal of the sirens in Boston is not as disastrous as Councillor Newell suggests that it could be. The flood warning system along the entire east coast is very old, very hit and miss . Nothing in new developments. If you happen to be sat in your house watching your foreign language TV programme because you're miles away from home, the chances of your being able to hear the sirens are very remote. The Environment Agency flood warning system will require people to sign up to the alerts but now it will require people to "sign out" I think this is a vast improvement to public safety. I don't see this as a downgrade. I see this as a vast improvement of everybody in Lincolnshire."
And, apropos of nothing in particular, Councillor Poll harked back to Councillor Singleton-McGuire's earlier questions.
"I have to say that the comments from the question to Councillor Webb about Boston quite struck me that there were certain parallels with Rome - in that, yeah, all roads allegedly lead to Rome - and I think that Boston thinks that all roads lead to Boston. I couldn't but help but extend that parallel a bit further and see that the current administration kinda reminds me of Emperor Nero"
Thanks for taking the trouble to turn up Eddie!
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
Today, we give you the local questions word for word, so you can see which of our County Councillors have taken the time to raise Boston issues in a way that the entire county representation can hear.
And you can hear the answers as well and see how the people who hold the keys to Boston's future regard our humble borough.
First came a question for the county's highways supremo Councillor William Webb , who was asked by Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire:-
"In light of the recent articles in the Boston papers by the Bypass Party, Councillors Ray Newell and Richard Austin, could Councillor Webb please explain why has LCC actually failed to honour its statutory and legal highway commitments to Boston, which Councillor Newell claims in his article to be the largest town in the county, with the road infrastructure that a sub regional centre requires. Could also any light be thrown on claims by Councillor Newell that Lincolnshire County Council actually apparently grabbed nearly 80% of the council tax that Boston council taxpayers contribute, which indeed, apparently over thirty years he claims could have built ten bypasses - I think we actually only need one.
"Councillor Webb, could you please identify also where the second bypass is that Councillor Newell refers to in Spalding in his article, and also a bypass for Stamford in fact Councillor Richard Austin informs me through the local paper that it is not the LDF (Local Development Framework) or his administration which is holding up the bypass for Boston - apparently this information is incompetent and naive it is the coastal st... (interruption) the coastal strategy ... (Chairman interrupts whoever is interrupting) Are these claims true, and if so what is Lincolnshire Council doing to progress the long awaited Boston Bypass?"
Councillor William Webb replied: "Deep down I think this question is actually asking how are road schemes funded? And in fact there are three main mechanisms. One is through the regional funding allocation, the second one is through growth points and the third point, part is through private investment. Let me talk immediately about Boston and say that a distributor road for Boston is int, int, integrally linked to land allocation through the immersion, emerging, local development framework and the transport strategy funding allocation was reviewed in 2009 and funding was reassigned to release £300,000 to assist Boston Borough Council to progress their local development framework to include a distributor road. That I think answers the first part of the question. Secondly as far as council tax is concerned only a very small proportion of the council tax collected actually goes towards highways - don't quote me on this, (!!) but I believe it's as low as six per cent of the pot that we collect of that actually goes towards maintenance of making sure that the roads themselves are maintained and the street lights have electricity to them erm but the point is that the rest of the council tax funding goes towards the provision of children's services, adult social care, fire and rescue service, waste disposal, library services etc. Highways only gets an infi, infinitesimal part of the council tax collected by the boroughs and districts. On the third point apparently we have bypasses springing up all over the county .... well I can tell you that this is not the case. We are working at the moment on a bypass for the eastern part of Lincoln. That will be funded from the regional allocation. we are also looking at a further scheme, it has to be said in Spalding, but this will be entirely on the back of large developments from the point of view of housing and also industrial development in Spalding - and it will be funded by that mechanism. As far as bypasses for other places, I've heard Stamford mentioned, (but) I can assure you at the moment that is no more than aspirational.
The second question concerning Boston came from Councillor Ramonde Newell, who sensibly used notes this time rather than last time's extempore speech, which caused some hilarity at the time.
He asked: "Will the risk to the people of Boston be increased, and their protection reduced with the removal of the flood warning sirens in Boston? The sirens protect the people of Boston 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. The sirens have a warning in all languages. The sirens have successfully warned of danger for very many years. Those at particular risk are children, the elderly, those with a disability or a mobility problem, the sick and the thousands upon thousands of foreign nationals in Boston. They, I understand speak 64 languages. I only know, personally one flood warden in Boston -- hundreds will be needed. Is this council guaranteeing to continue to warn and to protect all the people of Boston?"
A reply came from Councillor Eddie Poll, Executive Councillor for Economic Development, and although we promised word for word coverage, there was so much waffle, that we are forced to summarise.
The core of his response was to say: "The removal of the sirens in Boston is not as disastrous as Councillor Newell suggests that it could be. The flood warning system along the entire east coast is very old, very hit and miss . Nothing in new developments. If you happen to be sat in your house watching your foreign language TV programme because you're miles away from home, the chances of your being able to hear the sirens are very remote. The Environment Agency flood warning system will require people to sign up to the alerts but now it will require people to "sign out" I think this is a vast improvement to public safety. I don't see this as a downgrade. I see this as a vast improvement of everybody in Lincolnshire."
And, apropos of nothing in particular, Councillor Poll harked back to Councillor Singleton-McGuire's earlier questions.
"I have to say that the comments from the question to Councillor Webb about Boston quite struck me that there were certain parallels with Rome - in that, yeah, all roads allegedly lead to Rome - and I think that Boston thinks that all roads lead to Boston. I couldn't but help but extend that parallel a bit further and see that the current administration kinda reminds me of Emperor Nero"
Thanks for taking the trouble to turn up Eddie!
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
Tuesday, December 8
Twin Rays spotlight Boston's plight
We're not big fans of reality TV - but Friday's live webcast of Lincolnshire County Council's December meeting was in a class all of its own.There was a grim magnetism that glued your eyes to the computer screen as the councillors lurched through the agenda.
More worrying is how poorly some of the more senior members performed, and what a fragile grip some of them seem to have on language and presentation.
But what we were looking for was evidence that Boston's name is being pushed to the fore.
Boston has seven councillors, and at the last meeting just one of them spoke.
The latest meeting saw twin Rays of Sunshine, in the form of the unlikely duo of Councillors Raymond Singleton-McGuire and Ray Newell.
Councillor Singleton-McGuire raised a question with the County Council's Executive member for highways, William Webb about a bypass for Boston, during which he seemed to be interrupted by an invisible and anonymous heckler in the early stages. The tone of the question was more critical of Boston Borough Council's leadership rather than Lincolnshire County Council, and underlined the communication difficulties which have hogtied relations between the BBI and opposition parties. By the sound of things, it appears that more information is passed from the rulers to their fellow councillors through the letters pages of the local papers than in the council chamber.
Unfortunately, this opened a window of opportunity to field the question by way of a statement of the qualification protocol before a town gets a chance to get a foot on the first rung of the bypass ladder. But at least the opportunity was taken and the point made.
When his turn came, Councillor Newell bemoaned the withdrawal of the flood warning sirens and painted an Armageddon-like scenario of Bostonians of all nations being washed out to sea - stressing that the sirens speak in all of the sixty some odd tongues that it's now claimed comprise polyglot Boston. He was told he was over reacting and that the new system would be a grand improvement on the old one.
The only other mention of Boston came in an answer from Eddie Poll, Executive Councillor for Economic Development, and Conservative member for Spalding East and Moulton, whose photo on the county council's website shows a slightly rakish figure with designer stubble and a gold hoop earring in his left ear.
Referring back to Councillor Singleton-McGuire's question, he said: "I have to say that the comments from the question to Councillor Webb about Boston quite struck me that there were certain parallels with Rome in that yeah, all roads allegedly lead to Rome - and I think that Boston thinks that all roads lead to Boston. I couldn't but help but extend that parallel a bit further and see that the current administration kinda reminds me of Emperor Nero."
For those non-historians among our readers, Nero's r
ule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance while the emperor himself "fiddled while Rome burned."So, out of seven councillors from Boston (assuming they were all there) just two asked questions. Given that a third, Andrea Jenkyns, was being welcomed back into the fold on that day, whilst a fourth, Peter Bedford, is Vice Chairman and therefore somewhat limited in his ability to grab the floor, that still leaves three other councillors unheard from over two meetings.
Boston admittedly has a lot of problems and special needs - many of which can be remedied by Lincolnshire County Council - but how can we expect to have a voice when our representatives remain mute?
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
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