Scheme has no place for this resident

The Placecheck Scheme run by Boston Borough Council has come in for criticism in the past – and now it’s under fire yet again.

Basically, Placecheck (see logo, above) comprises a £100,000 kitty awarded to the council by the Health and Well-Being Programme from which five areas of Boston can each have £10,000.

We wonder about the mathematics as well, because although £100,000 has been received, only half is being given away, and we have yet to find any explanation about what is being done with the remaining £50,000.

So far the scheme seems to have spent the bulk of its grants on services which are already provided by the council and paid for through our council tax – mostly litter cleaning and other tidying up exercises.

Areas to “benefit” to date include Boston High Street, Daisy Dale, and parts of Main Ridge.
Next to wallow in the council’s largesse is the Carlton Road neighbourhood.
But the scheme there is causing at least one resident wondering what it’s all about.
Robert Smith of Argyle Street e-mailed us to say:-
“Dear Boston Eye,
“I wanted to get this down, while events were still fresh in my mind.
“A little while ago a glossy, no doubt expensively, printed brochure dropped through my Argyle Street letterbox. ‘The 'Placecheck Report Carlton Road Neighbourhood'.
“Instead of simply binning the thing as I normally would, I bothered read it.
“You may possibly have seen one. It has lots of lovely photographs of litter, graffiti, pot holes, rubbish, dog mess, parked cars, etc, etc.
“In short, no sights that I don't see every day as I weave around the pot holes on my bicycle.
“It also invited me, as a local resident, along to a meeting at Carlton Road School on Tuesday 19th.
“I was intrigued enough to arrange to get away from work after a long twelve hour shift in order to directly attend before going home.
“Of the small assembly present, I only recognised two faces. One was the Mayor, the other was serial council complainer and local press letter writer Paul Kenny.
“After a brief introduction, outlining how great everything was going and how much (but not particularly what) had been achieved, the proceedings were adjourned.
“The assembled throng descended with gusto on the free buffet.
“The proceedings then drew to a close.
“I still don't know what this group stands for, I don't know what the purpose the meeting was, I don't know what its aims are.
“I do imagine that I'm probably paying for it, either directly or indirectly.
“Needless to say, I won't be attending again.”
We decided to see if we could clarify matters a little, and according to the borough’s website, the event which Mr Smith attended was the presentation of Carlton Road Neighbourhood Action Group’s  Placecheck report - detailing aims and objectives against which a list of possible improvement schemes will be drawn up - to the Mayor Councillor Peter Jordan, who accepted it on behalf of the council.
The borough says: “The report was put together after members of the steering group made a fact-finding walkabout of their neighbourhood, listing its good and bad points and the aspirations of its residents. Councillor Helen Staples, housing, stronger communities and community development portfolio holder outlined the Placecheck process and steering group chairman Diana Walker presented a speech to encourage more volunteers to come forward.”
It seems that somewhere along the line, the borough must have got its communications in a tangle, as Mr Smith appears to have been invited to a function which was no more than a fait accompli – and missed out on an invitation to become involved in anearlier decision making process.
We have heard of this happening before with previous Placecheck schemes leaving some residents out of the loop.
Again, according to the borough, local councillors for the Carlton Road area are Councillors Councillor David Lingard (Staniland North Ward) Councillor David Owens (Fenside Ward) and Councillor Sheila Newell (Fenside Ward) – so we asked Mr Smith he had noticed them at all.
The response was not encouraging.
“Dear Boston Eye,
“I had to go to Boston Borough Council's website to find out what two of these three people looked like.
“I didn't speak to, nor was introduced to, any of the three persons mentioned.
“I don't believe I saw David Lingard or Sheila Newell, but wouldn't want to put my hand on a stack of bibles to say they hadn't been present.
“I've met David Owens previously and would have reintroduced myself had he been there.
“I don't come under a Fenside councillor and looking at the brochure, I don't think it actually covers Fenside as a self-contained area.”
On paper, Placecheck sounded to be quite a good thing.
In practice, it is emerging as something of a glee club for the great and the good of the borough with occasional events to keep them topped up with canapes, which is not serving local people in the way intended.
And we would question how usefully the money given to local people is being spent – and ask again how the other £50,000 has been budgeted.

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