Secret squirrels on BBI

are up to their old tricks!

Just a day after we raised an eyebrow at the continuing attempts by the Boston Bypass Independents to emerge as the heroes in the Boston flood defence debate, comes news of yet another stunt.
Earlier this year Lincolnshire County Council created the “Flood and Drainage Management Scrutiny Committee,” with a broad-ranging brief, including keeping an eye on local implementation of the Environment Agency-led national strategy for flood risk and coastal erosion.
The committee comprises eleven members of the council, plus seven other voting members – one from each of the county’s districts.
The first meeting of the new committee, whose brief is to undertake the scrutiny of new responsibilities the county will have under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, was scheduled for 26th November – a full ten weeks after its inception.
By all appearances, the district representatives were nominated and approved with the exception of North Kesteven - which was declared vacant ahead of the meeting, but filled on the day by a councillor acting as an observer.
Boston’s representative was listed as BBI member Gerry Clare, who represents North ward – but it now appears to have come as something of a surprise, as clearly, only a select few within Boston Borough Council knew of the nomination.
Certainly, those in the know did not include any of the fourteen strong opposition – and no doubt most of the rest of the BBI.
Councillor Clare – whose knowledge of flooding is not legendary – was apparently parachuted in as a member of the committee on the grounds that the invitation to the first meeting came with little warning.
However, he does not appear on the agenda as an “observer” like his NKDC colleague, but as a fully fledged member.
This, of course, is something that should not happen in an open, transparent and democratic council.
But then, we’re talking about Boston here, so it should not really be too surprising.
The normal way to go about appointments of this type is to seek nominations, and discuss them.
There is no reason why the appointee should be a member of the BBI, and we would have thought that it would have been preferable to give the job to someone who actually knows something about the subjects likely to be discussed – of whom there are several on the council – though not among the ruling group.
The County Council’s own rules for appointment are clear: “A co-opted member is … a member who has been duly nominated and appointed by a district council in Lincolnshire in accordance with this scheme.”
Incidentally, we are reminded that after the floods in Boston in 2008 the borough council took part in a meeting involving the Lincolnshire Emergency Planning Unit. Whilst it was attended by councillors and representatives from services involved in helping the public during and after the flooding, none of the three councillors covering Fishtoft Ward attended.
Fishtoft Ward was the most seriously affected area in the whole of Boston.
Councillor Clare is one of the representatives whose “patch” includes Fishtoft.
Yet again, the BBI has decided to ride roughshod over the rest of the council – this time making a secret appointment with no acknowledgement of the proper procedures.
And this is a party that boasts of its openness and devotion to democracy.
Humbug!

Footnote: Remember yesterday’s photo of the Association of Drainage Authorities’ (call me “ada “) website? Within a few hours of Boston Eye appearing, the item had been edited. You can compare it with yesterday’s photo by clicking on the photo below.

What a shame that ada wasn’t courteous enough to acknowledge that the meeting was organised by Boston’s MP, Mark Simmonds.

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