Borough list of worthies

would be far too long

Another of Council Leader Richard “Papa Dick” Austin’s pet projects - a Boston “Roll of Achievement ” has been dragged back on to the agenda after complaints that it had been railroaded through by the BBI cabinet.
The idea is to create a permanent and accessible record for individuals with a connection with Boston and who have contributed to it.
It would be produced in electronic form and stored on the council’s website - with the idea that it will attract more visitors.
It is claimed that this will cost as little as £500, although sceptics have their doubts - particularly as part of this proposal it will be require a Roll of Achievement Committee and an Achievement Controller.
As is so often the case these days much of the arranging of this was done out of the public eye, and the cabinet decision was regarded as a done deal.
But tonight , the borough's Overview & Scrutiny - Performance Review Committee will decide whether the cabinet decision should stand, whether the cabinet should think again or whether the full council should review the plan.
Although it my seem like a storm in a teacup, this is yet another issue of the cabinet riding roughshod over the rest of the council - including its own non-cabinet party members.
And quite frankly, the idea of a Roll of Achievement seems pretty feeble.
Two examples  have been given of who might be placed on this list.  The are  local athlete Bernice Wilson and the late Ernest Bowser (1887-1969) who was big in drainage - which is another of the leader’s current obsessions.
Critics say that Boston borough council already has a community and civic award scheme and doesn’t need another one doing the same thing under a different name.
We have to say that we agree.
We have to add that give the nature of the two examples cited, whilst laudable in their own way, are so widely disparate that the list would be open to scores, it not hundreds of similarly “worthy” entries.
Not for the first time the leader has come up with an ill thought out idea that has gained approval simply because he is the man who commands the votes.


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