Week ending 29th April

Our Friday miscellany

of the week's

news and events

The debate over things the BBI takes credit for when it might not actually be the case continues. An e-mail from Better Boston Group Councillor and independent candidate Brian Rush says: “I am very surprised that my Conservative colleagues have allowed the BBI to claim ownership of the road widening scheme (time will tell, regarding its success) and the removal of traffic lights on roundabouts etc. I am not sniping at the Tories, because I do believe these plans and proposals were well under way before the BBI took control. But why have they (Tories) not exposed these false claims, by publishing the evidence that surrounds this case? After all, the condemnation by the BBI of the road widening was clearly one of the major manifesto items in 2007, and one that probably contributed to Conservatives, and others, losing seats in that election. There is no doubt that there will be some very new faces in the council chamber post May 5th, and although I do support the ethos that new blood brings new ideas, already I am feeling somewhat uncomfortable regarding the next four years. From what I have seen and read so far, the people need to understand that statements made in manifestos are very easily written. It is being able to achieve and deliver the promises contained within them that is difficult! All new elected councillors will be shocked and surprised by the commitment that will be expected from them, if they are to serve their wards adequately and a steep learning curve is on its way.”
A reader takes us to task for some remarks about the closure of the Broadfield Lane allotments which we made a couple of weeks ago. He says that the Boston Municipal Charities, who hold the freehold of the land, wanted to sell some of it and at the time thought it would fetch a lot of money. The charity terminated the Borough Council’s and the council in turn had to give the allotment holders a year's notice. “The possible purchasers then melted away,” says our critic. “Some of the allotment holders moved to other allotments in the town. Some went to the new Cuckoo Land allotments, as I understand. The allotment holders removed much of their materials, and the Borough removed the rest. Most of the locals want the site to remain as it is, rather than be built on. As far as I am aware the charity still owns the site which has since become something of a natural wild life site, complete with deer and wild vegetation. Rough sleeping immigrants have been removed from the site. The top end by the road where the businesses are situated was cleaned up.  The Neighbourhood Police Team keeps an eye on it, as do the Boston Borough Council officers. I personally felt that your comments were rather scathing on Boston Borough Council and (implied) that they had wanted to get freehold possession on the property with the intention of selling as the market was on a high at that time.” We publish this as it contains some new information, but point out that what we said was that the BBI closed the allotments "to pave the way for a development that never happened" – there was no suggestion that the council would benefit in any way.
After yesterday’s sometimes acrimonious radio round table debate on next week’s Boston elections – more on that in Tuesday’s blog – it’s nice to see that some candidates have remembered their manners. Boards in gardens in the Skirbeck wards are asking electors “Please vote Anne Dorrian.” That should be worth an extra vote or two from the more civilised electors of the ward.
By contrast, after we asked all the main contenders for their manifesto for a series we ran three weeks ago, the Lib Dems were among the lesser parties who failed to respond. Then, earliler this week, we received an e-mail from the senior local figure to whom we had originally written with what we can only assume was a deliberately offhand and discourteous message. “A trifle late for you I gather but here is the Boston LibDem manifesto, more or less. The trouble is that in the past we have never had one as such; each candidate has had their own. We don't believe in centralisation. However this time part of each leaflet is the same. So I guess that makes it the manifesto and this is it. Feel free to do your usual hatchet job. We're the Millwall FC of politics now - no-one likes us; we don't care! This coming week looks like "media week" for us - in between postal voters' leaflets (done) and the run-in to polling day for the in-person voters. We should have stuff in Standard, Target, Radio Lincolnshire (breakfast show Thursday) and Look North (filming Tuesday) so it seems right to add in Boston Eye at this point, even though you wanted it much earlier.” It really makes you want to vote for them, doesn’t it?
Whilst Boston’s Business Improvement District remains in hibernation – its last published set of minutes is from February - residents in Lincoln can shop until they drop, after more than 100 retailers agreed to late-night opening to 8pm each Thursday from July. Talks are also going on to create special car parking deals for Thursdays. The organisation behind the scheme is Lincoln BIG – the Business Improvement Group. The group’s promotions manager said: "We had a lot of late nights in the run-up to Christmas but Lincoln is out of sync with the rest of the country.” If Lincoln was “out of synch,” where does that leave Boston?
The adage tells us that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Which makes us wonder what happened to the commitment by Boston Borough Council to publish accounts of its expenditure over £500 on a monthly basis? As the calendar hovers on the brink of May, the published lists remain frozen in time – with the last issue being for February. The figures have turned up one or two things that we suspect the borough would rather not have seen in the public domain. Does this possibly explain the delay?
Having said that, the opportunity to post a petition on the borough council website has surged forward – we have one at last! It calls for a dog warden to be brought back to Boston, and whilst the aim is a good one, the wording of the petition is unfortunately unintentionally comic – as our photo below (click to enlarge) shows…

We guess that with so many dogs fouling out there – and there is no doubt that it is a serious problem in Boston – it is inevitable that some of the may have the odd little problem or two!
Riding through the countryside the other day, we came across these two campaign signs sharing the same stake. Look closely at the picture below…

Did you notice? Things aren’t quite what they seem! We’d love to see the BBI reaction as these signs start appearing around the town.
We don’t have crystal balls – we’d clink when we walked if we did – but we can tell you at least one election result ahead of May 5th. It seems that no one in Amber Hill could be bothered to stand for the parish council other than the people who’ve been in post these past four years – and possibly longer for all we know. This means that the council is re-elected by default. Whilst it’s highly praiseworthy that local people are willing to work so hard for their parishes, it’s also a sad reflection on a community when the residents are happy to sit back and do nothing and leave it all to the same set of people. Still, we got a little smile when we visited the Amber Hill Parish website…. click on the photo to enlarge it

Whilst we can forgive a simple spelling mistake such as leaving the letter ‘e’ out of the name of Councillor Mike Brookes, we were momentarily puzzled by the parish’s County Councillor - Mrs Andrew Jenkyns. Could they have meant to name our political song thrush Councillor Miss Andrea Jenkyns. We’re sure that they could.

And talking of spelling mistakes … is there a Tory candidate for next week’s election who doesn’t know the difference between “loose” and lose?” It seems there is. “There is a great future. Don’t loose it, vote for me,” pleads her election literature. We’d have thought that the word “lose” would be an unforgettable one in politics. It’s true, really – not just a Glorious Myth!

That’s it for this week. We’re back after the Bank Holiday break - on Tuesday 3rd May … isn’t there something in the diary for that week?

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