Never mind what you may have read on the Bostoninnies' blog, the truth is in here - not out there.
Councillor Michael Brookes
First the change of allegiance by County and Borough Councillor Michael Brookes, who now sits as a Conservative on both authorities, having been elected as an Independent. It was only last October that gave a passionate espousal of the importance of independence ... so why the change?"It is a decision that I have not taken lightly and arrived at after a great deal of thought and consultation with my supporters," Councillor Brookes told Boston Eye. "When I wrote to you in October last it was soon after the County Council Elections, after the long summer holidays and before things had bedded in with the new council. I have worked closely with the Conservative Group at Boston Borough Council for the last 13 years, mostly as part of the administration, but more recently in opposition to the Boston Bypass Independents, who have been a disaster for our Borough resulting in a succession of failed audits and the setting up of an Improvement Board to help the council get back on track.
"Since being successful in getting on to Lincolnshire County Council I have found myself in an Independent Group including a BBI member which has formed a Shadow Cabinet as the official opposition to the Conservative Administration, who I consider are doing a good job running the council.
"This has caused conflicts and inconsistencies for me working with the Conservatives in opposition to the BBI at Boston and with one of the BBI in opposition to the Conservatives at Lincoln. This compromises me and makes it impossible to best represent my constituents going forward. Indeed the question has been posed on many occasions 'how can you work in opposition to them in one place and with them somewhere else?' My politics are centre right and easily align with the Conservative party which is a broad church. As I have explained previously, I cannot operate on my own as I would not be entitled to any seats on committees.
"There is a great deal of work to be done to repair the damage done to Boston by the BBI which requires a consistent approach at both the Borough and the County which I feel is now best served by me being a member of the Conservative Group on both councils.
"Finally I would like to reassure my constituents that I will continue to represent their best interests going forward, and to thank the Independent Group at Boston Borough for all the help and support they have given me over the last 13 years, particularly Richard Leggott who is my fellow Borough (Swineshead and Holland Fen Ward) member and a valued friend. I have tried to keep them fully informed as I have wrestled with this issue and trust they fully understand the reasons behind my decision."
Councillor David Owens
Meanwhile, Councillor David Owens has aligned with the Independent group. Here's what he told Boston Eye."Please fear not, I have in no way whatsoever switched allegiance from the BNP, in fact far from it.
"The independents and I are working together simply for the purpose of seat allocation on the committees, so that I can more effectively conduct my role as borough councillor for the Fenside ward.
"Readers may recall that since my election back in November 2008 I have been trying to gain fair and equal representation on committee seats, I have pursued the issue via the every available channel, finally bringing the matter before the standards committee and full council.
"In the now traditional manner we have been accustomed to here in Boston, the ruling BBI party voted out an amendment to the constitution that would and could have allowed me to take my rightful place.
"I feel that my association with the Independent group for this purpose serves both their own cause as well as mine, given they have lost one of their number to the Conservative group.
"As I am sure you are aware I am standing for the British National Party in the forthcoming general election, and I fully expect that after next year's local election results the BNP with have a group all of its own."
Councillor Richard Leggott
The man in the middle of all this is veteran Independent Councillor Richard Leggott, who has come in for some childish criticism on the Bostoninnies' blog, which lines such as "jilted Leggott finds a new bed-mate" and references to a "three in a bed scenario."Councillor Leggott told Boston Eye ... "Any true Independent reading the recent Bypass Independent (?) Party blog site will probably be amazed at the surprising song and dance there seems to be thereon at the two latest developments amongst members of Boston Borough Council.
First: Councillor Brookes's move. A true Independent can accept that any person may wish to withdraw from a council group, for any reason, and, for seat allocation purposes, join another group. A real Independent, whose guiding principle is how to best represent his/her electorate by whatever means, should understand that. So why the fuss about Councilor Brookes by a group who call themselves Bypass Independents? I have no problem.
Second: Councillor Owens overcoming the ban on his committee rights.
The fact that Councillor David Owens, having made the arrangement that he has with the Independent Group on Boston Borough Council, will now be accorded his proper right to formally take his place on any Borough Committee for which he is qualified, also seems to have mightily riled the Bypass Party leadership.
"As it was some of the Bypass leadership in the first instance who used a technicality to deny Councillor Owens these committee representational rights -for what reason was never explained - one can perhaps put two and two together and work out why they are now demonstrating their 'miffedness' on their blog.
"Once one is aware of the facts, I guess it does not reflect too well on the authors - especially if one of them might even be a BBI Councillor who has in the last three years applied to join, and been turned down by, a major political party. Or perhaps even the BBI Councillor who invoked in the first instance the constitutional technicality to deny one of the democratically elected councillors for Fenside their full representational rights on the council.
"In explanation of the technicality referred to above, a councillor who is the sole representative of a political party on a council should, according to advice from the Local Government Association, be allowed a corresponding number of the seats on committees required to reflect the overall proportionality of the council (eg 60 such seats/30 councillors = two seats per councillor amongst the relevant committees needed to deliver proportionality) Boston Borough's constitution states,for some inexplicable reason,
that this is to be allowed only if no other councillor speaks against the single group councillor being accorded the right to such seats.
"Ps.If you detect a funny smell in West street it's not always the sewers."
The new constitution of Boston Borough Council is now: Boston Bypass Independents - 18, Conservative - 7, Better Boston Group - 4, Independents - 3.
Editor's note: We take Councillor Leggott's point about the smell at West Street. Amusingly the writer on the Bostoninnies' blog describes himself as "Blogger number 2." In our young days the words "number two" had a specific and none too fragrant connotation. The BBI blogger concerned has named himself most appositely.
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