Plea that fell on deaf ears

If Lincolnshire County Council had been quicker off the mark, we hoped today to have brought you full details of how Boston was represented at last week's full council meeting.
However, despite being "archived" for several days, the link at last appeared, but, guess what...? It didn't work.*
We've written to the County Council to let them know, and have been told that it may be some time before things are put right.
No matter, there was so little of interest to Bostonians that we can get round the problem relying on our memories of the meeting.
Shortly before the past couple of meetings, we've urged the seven councillors who represent Boston at the next step up the local government ladder to speak out on behalf of the town and the borough.
The County Council meeting is a strange affair.
Basically it involves 77 people driving to Lincoln, nodding sagely as they acknowledge reports by the senior portfolio holders, nodding through various sets of minutes before being offered the chance to ask questions to the Chairman, the Leader, executive councillors, chairmen of committees and sub-committees, and the nominee of the Lincolnshire Police Authority - an opportunity almost always left untaken.
We don't think that it's unfair to say that meetings such as these are by and large unnecessary. They could be carried out far more cheaply and efficiently by webcam from the comforts of individuals' homes, saving huge costs in terms of mileage and the time of those involved for the majority of them to sit in silence - including six of our Boston representatives last Friday.
The only question raised came from Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire, who raised a point with William Webb, the executive councillor for highways.
The question was a request for a progress report after the hold-ups regarding land purchase issues for the Boston Liquorpond Street A16/A52 road widening scheme, and whether this affected or jeopardised the present tenders which were only good until the end of January?
Apparently the owner of one strip of land in question - a mere six feet wide and the length of the county council chamber according to Councillor Webb's helpful description - wants more money for it, but we were assured that this would not affect the scheme as there was always the option of compulsory purchase.
It's called the iron fist in the iron glove - something that students of the way the Boston Bypass Independents do business are all too familiar.
In recent meetings we have heard questions from just two Boston representatives - Councillor Singleton-McGuire, who raised a point at the December meeting as well, and Councillor Ramonde Newell, who popped up in December and August last year.
There are so many issues that affect Boston which go beyond the confines of the borough - immigration, economic problems, and regeneration are just three that come to mind.
For our councillors to sit on their hands every month or so, apart from rubber stamping a shedload of minutes and reports is a waste of their role as a county representative.
More needs to be done to recognise Boston's parlous place in Lincolnshire, and demands made to improve it. If councillors from the rest of Lincolnshire hear more about our needs and problems, they are more likely to be sympathetic when we ask for money or improvements and lend us wider support.
As we're already urged our county representatives - don't be backward in coming forward.

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

*It looks as though we were the first to tell LCC the bad news, which they blamed on the failure of an external internet hosting company, because until then, the LCC website offered an active link that only proved broken once selected. Clearly whoever set up the link failed to take the obvious next step of seeing if it worked. Nah, leave it to the punters.