Almost without exception, anyone involved in politics says one thing and means another - and this was well demonstrated at Friday’s County Council meeting when the subject of Boston’s “bypass” came up in a question.
We put the word in quotes, because everyone by now agrees that Boston will never get a bypass as such. Even the members of the Boston Bypass Independents never now use the B-word, but instead settle for the D-word ... a “distributor” road.
So it was that Councillor Ramonde Newell , who represents Boston West at County Hall for the Independents rather than the BBI (the party for which he stood at election time, and which recalls Oscar Wilde’s line “my name is Ernest in town and Jack in the country) asked the following question of Councillor William Webb, the county’s Executive Member for Highways:-
“In the second local transport plan the progression of a distributor road for Boston was identified as a longer term improvement. The electorate of Boston are concerned that with the expiry of the Local Plan 2 and the roll forwards of Local Transport Plan 3 that Boston could lose its distributor road improvement. They need assurance that such a loss will not occur. Can you give that assurance?”
At this point, Councillor Webb donned his actor’s mask.
“Yes I can confirm that LTP2, our second local transport plan, is shortly to be over and we shall be looking towards LTP3 - or if you like, son of LTP2 . Funding for highways schemes has to come from central government, or the majority for a major scheme has to come from central government.
“All of us are aware that funding for road schemes appears to be very tight in the future. Our priority in LTP3 – or LTP2+ – which we have prepared for next year will be the Lincoln eastern bypass, that’s our number one priority.
“However, there are other schemes which are mentioned in LTP2 which we will carry forward, one of which is a distributor road for Boston.
“But can I make the point that we are currently spending £7½ million pounds in the town of Boston to improve traffic flows. This is due to finish next year. Some of it is already in the process of being completed and this will make a marked difference to traffic flows in Boston, and we will have to see what monies are going to be available for us in the future to progress all the major schemes in the county that we would like to do.
“Up to now we have been able to get some indication of what money was available through the regional funding allocation, but this will not now be available in the way that we have known it in the past, and so we are going to have to talk directly, I suspect, with the Department of Transport rather than our colleagues in Nottingham who had a very clear indication of what was required and what was necessary within the whole of the East Midlands region.
“So I’m sorry to see the group on which we sat as active members in Nottingham disbanded. But at the same time, we will continue to push for the importance of an adequate and safe road network for the benefit of the economy and the benefit of the people of Lincolnshire.”
This is Polspeak at its easiest to interpret and unravel - even if Councillor Webb believes that his response twas cleverly couched so as to promise something when in fact the reverse was the case.
For the unversed, the phrase “can I make the point that we are currently spending £7½ million pounds in the town of Boston to improve traffic flows,” means “Boston has had its pay day and needn’t hold out the begging bowl for any more given the change of political climate.”
Similarly, the words “we will have to see what monies are going to be available for us in the future to progress all the major schemes in the county that we would like to do” means the same. Boston has had all the money it is going to get, and there are other, more deserving, places in the county who will benefit in the future.
Note, too, that at no point does Councillor Webb address the request for assurance that the distributor road will not be “lost.” He merely says that it will be "carried forward."
Our name is on a list of Premium Bond holders which is carried forward into the next draw every month. But we're not holding our breath until a cheque for 1million lands on the Boston Eye doormat.
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