"Give us the PRSA numbers!"

It's been a long time since the PRSA has reared its white, elephantine head in the pages of Boston Eye, but it's back today in the form of a letter from long-time critic Martin Robbins with a challenge to tot up the total that's been spent over the years.

Dear Boston Eye,
In a recent article about the PRSA squirreled away on an obituaries page of the local media, in my opinion where the PRSA rightfully belongs, one trustee of the Boston Sports Initiative and the Council Portfolio Holder for Sport, Councillor Richard Dungworth, both made misleading statements that require a response.
A reality check that the PRSA is coming along in leaps and bounds is really telling everyone "The bad news is, BSI Trustees have shot themselves in the foot, but the good news is they didn’t shoot themselves in both feet!.
What has been achieved in the last three months is completely irrelevant because the directors are talking penny sweets language again whereas they have actually spent Empire State Building money!
It is not commonly realised that the organisation has tossed more than fourteen million pounds in the air so far, on top of which the Borough Council slid a million or three of its own money into the doomed venture before PRSA accounts began. BSI directors also reneged on £3m loans so, taking into account the unnecessary losses they created by embarking on unwinnable legal actions and arbitrary rejection of valuable business, the total in cash flow terms is likely to approach twenty million pounds.
This may be a tad optimistic so, on behalf of Boston’s long-suffering taxpayers, here’s the challenge to BSI’s directors!
Starting from the point where your audited accounts show income of £10,551,886 between 2003 and 2009, tell us what ‘setting-up costs’ were secretly paid for by the Borough between 1999 and 2003, how much you expect local taxpayers to cough up for your 2008-09 and 2009/10 trading losses and, finally, add on the unpaid loans.
It will be interesting to see what final total you come up with!
Of course, like every other question about the BSI/PRSA I doubt I will get any honest answers to my questions. After all, the original trustees and the council went to great lengths to get the PRSA registered as a "disability charity" knowing full well it was never about "disability" or "Sport for All" BUT all about supplying Boston Rugby Club with a posh new home at the taxpayers’ expense.
Regards,
Martin Robbins

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