Good scout Richard says "be prepared"

Tonight’s “special” meeting of Boston Borough Council considers the annual report of the council’s activities, with a foreword from Boston Bypass Independent supremo and Council Leader Richard “Papa Dick” Austin.
Riding hard on the heels of his successful creation of the “Boston Experience”, which places us at the heart of the mythical “Waterland*”, this time the leader has come up with another fabulous creation - which for want of a better word, we shall call “Waffleland.”
“Waffleland” is not a stall that one might expect to find at the May Fair, but rather an over-eggy pudding which looks back on 2009/10 as a year of achievement “despite grey clouds gathering on the horizon,” and “the year when we made the best of preparations to deal with the storms ahead.”
Nautical but nice as they say ... and Councillor Austin goes on:
“I celebrate a year when the council began to turn around its performance and deliver improved value for money for residents across the borough.
“In 2009 an Improvement Board was set up, at my request, and this is now helping to drive forward the improvement we need to make at Boston Borough.
“Work is now going ahead to meet the long awaited aim of improving the flow of traffic and
new bus services have brought more shoppers into town.
“The refurbished Park Gate toilets are now open, more allotments are available, plans are being progressed to improve street parking arrangements, and climate change issues are being addressed and more people are benefiting from the healthy walks scheme”
Then there’s a paean of praise for the Big Boston Clean-up, the Placecheck programme, the launch of a “Greening Boston” campaign, and the ongoing partnerships in the fight against crime.
We told we’ve shaken off our “fat” label, are getting fitter, and have excellent sporting, leisure and amenity facilities.
Again, with characteristic modesty, Councillor Austin reminds us: “I launched an initiative to attract tourists, day visitors and local residents by enjoying the Boston Experience.”
And, although most of would rather forget Boston’s status an area classed as at serious risk from flooding - with all the disadvantages that this entails - he tells us that later this year we will mark the 200th anniversary of Boston’s last great flood by staging an exhibition in “the new Community Rooms in Narrow Bargate”.
Boston Eye says “pish and tush!”
The bulk of the so-called achievements are in fact a continuation of historical projects, and there is disagreement over the creation of the Improvement Board and the authorship of the Boston Experience.
Certainly Councillor Austin demonstrates enough “I” trouble to mark him out as a somewhat reluctant team player.
And as for the “new Community Rooms in Narrow Bargate” - is he seriously referring to the long overdue scheme to convert the former Sketchley shop and neighbouring card shop into a so-called “community hub?”
“New community rooms?”
Pompous stuff and nonsense!
He concludes: “Cuts in funding from central Government will challenge us in the years ahead and we will discover the fine detail in the Autumn. But we are prepared.”
What a good scout!

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* How this will sit with the decision to rebrand the Norfolk Broads as “Britain’s Magical Waterland" to try to attract visitors to the region is anyone’s guess. We never though that Boston could reasonably earn this nomenclature in the first place, and the Norfolk claim is far more acceptable.