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our 750th post

Sett in stone ...
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Market Place

It’s a done deal, and in a couple of weeks Boston’s historic Market Place will be ripped to shreds and rebuilt over the next eight months.
Expect chaos, expect complaints, and at the end of it all … expect what?
Granite seems to be the watchword – two million quid’s worth - plus more retained parking than many of us would have wished.
And loads of new bus facilities.
Worst of all is the half-hearted nod to the traditional Five Lamps, which dominated the Market Place for years and which we were promised would be restored and replaced – and which are merely now defined on the attached plan as “Feature lamps as entrance with town Bus (note the capital letter) stop and stone plinth for added impact and use as informal seating” – whatever that means.
One other piece of the town’s heritage to suffer abuse at the hands of the planners is the listed boundary wall of St Botolph’s Church which is to be slashed open for nothing more than “pedestrian access.”
The idea behind all this is to make the Market Place a heritage feature of which the town can be proud.
Shoppers and visitors would co-mingle and gaze with delight at the scene of calmness and tranquillity before them
Ho!
Ho!
It’s just going to be a mess – another of those half-baked Boston schemes that somehow isn’t quite right and cries out that it could have been done better.
The colour and design of historic market places where they survive is mellow, not hard, and pleasing on the eye – not brash.
And, given what’s on the plan, we have to ask how on earth all this is going to run up such a massive £2 million bill. Where’s the money going?
This week’s local newspapers feature soothing and optimistic comments about keeping things running smoothly while the work is underway.
But someone who’s unconvinced is English Democrat borough councillor Elliott Fountain.
“One of my main concerns is that the Market Place is going to be cut off from traffic from July 2011 to March 2012 in what is surely one of the biggest economic downturns,” he told Boston Eye. “This has not caused much concern presently from the traders in the town centre, but I think it just helps to recognize that almost all the family businesses have already been put out of business and only the multi-nationals still exist who don’t really care because they are so big profit wise.”
“Another point I made clear was that they are building two new bus stops yet it has been said that the Into Town bus service will cease going through the precinct in the near future - so what is the point?
“The cost of the market place works is £2 million and will be carried out by same contractor who did road widening scheme at a cost of £10 million, so it seems like at least one business is thriving - I can’t wait until they eventually start the bypass!”
Councillor Fountain said he told fellow councillors at a members’ meeting that he had lots of concerns, and said the work should be stopped.
“I said if work needs to be carried out it should just wait until we have reviewed it, but all the Conservatives think it’s good. I then went to the shopkeepers’ meeting where I expected there to be more public to show their concerns, but I think there were only three shop owners. The public won’t even know this is really happening until the town is shut on July 11th - then they will be lost for words.
“It’s sickening what’s happening to this town, - I can’t believe what’s happening, and I don’t understand how designers from Lincoln can design a town centre in Boston where they don’t understand the needs and desire of the public.”
We think that Councillor Fountain makes some good points.
The Market Place regeneration is supposed to be a make or break chance for the town and its future. Yet only 13 of the 32 councillors involved in the decision to go ahead are still in post. Surely a brief pause in the plans to ensure that the new councillors are as happy with the scheme as the old ones appeared to be would be a sensible precaution.
Officers have a history of spending regardless – the classic example was the community “hub” fiasco … where they admitted that money was wasted - but regarded it a nothing more than a "learning curve" because it wasn’t  “local” money. So they’re not bothered one way or the other.
The Market Place is not just some baton to be passed from one leadership to another. It needs a second look. A short delay will not threaten the project. But we must get it right.

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