Will Into Town buses drive May Fair to its doom?

“Roll up, roll up! All the fun of the fair!” is the traditional cry .... though should it be: “Good evening all! Pay Up, Pay Up! Who's been a naughty council then? This is a HOLD UP Give us yer money”
What’s going wrong with the police?
Are they being forced to abandon “policing for all”?
Is the time coming when our ID card will show if we have paid our Council Tax? Only if it does, will they help us.I can understand their wish to charge for their services at "private events" such as at football matches.
But will clubs have to pay if the bobbies decide to protect public order and escort fans from, say, the railway station to the ground?
And from my past observations, there is rarely a huge police presence at the May Fair anyway.
Their main difficulty is lack of manpower. The good burghers of Boston would be horrified if they knew how thin the thin blue line can be, especially at weekends.
Even if the police win their case, is there any guarantee that we will see any improvement in the service? Will the payments just pay for police overtime?But back to the May Fair.
Several years ago, when the council pulled the funding and closed the increasingly successful Christmas Market, a cartoon of a council meeting appeared in the Standard.
The caption was, I think, “And next year we could cancel Christmas altogether – humbug anyone?”
All we need to do is change ‘Christmas’ to ‘the May Fair’ to make it relevant again. Have we a council of Scrooges? Is Boston council reverting to its Puritan roots?
I cannot, though, understand why the council needs to increase their charges by over 35% to break even. Previous councils always aimed to break even, so fairground rents were based on loss of car parking revenue, the cost of providing refuse collection and other services to the fair and their caravans and the officer time spent in administration.
The showmen even took on the task of collecting the rents to save council expenses.
I know that the first two services cannot have increased their charges by that amount so does this mean there was an increase in officer time to the tune of 35% - over £10,000 - in one year? Or is there a hidden agenda? Please read on.One very important matter has not even been mentioned.
How are our Into Town services going to cope with a town centre and Bargate filled with fairground stalls?
We lost our Continental Market because no one took into account the IT buses. Have they considered that the Market Place and Wide Bargate are closed to vehicular traffic for much of the time?
Even our "small" coaches, when trying to make their way through the crowds, would pose a danger.
Part of West Street, too, is closed to accommodate market stalls.
What happens to the services that use this stretch?
Will the bus service be used as an excuse to close the May Fair too?
Will Scrooge make a comeback in May? Is the bus mightier than the Fair?
What do you think?
Let’s have another public consultation – I promise no one will take any notice!

- SCANNER

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