Where do Tories stand

on Bargate bus lane?

As the newly-elected Boston Borough Council settles into place, one might expect to see something by way of action even at this early stage – if nothing else as a way of saying “this is us, we’ve arrived, and we mean business.”
Instead, the Conservative leadership has maintained a lofty silence – leaving the minor parties to take on the role of saying what they think is best for Boston.
Whilst we’ve said before that such vocality is a piece of cake when you are not in the political position to deliver, that doesn’t alter the fact that all the major parties – and some of the minor ones as well – seemed in total accord on some of the issues that cropped up in the pre-election campaigning.
One such piece of unity was the issue of diverting the Into Town bus service along a route that does not take it through Strait Bargate.
We recall the consensus view that buses through Bargate were a bad thing being expressed at a round table local radio debate, and somewhat naively pictured the addressing of this issue as something that could be done as an early demonstration of good faith with the electorate.
A fortnight ago, we reported that the Labour group on Boston Borough Council had pledged to campaign to make Strait Bargate a pedestrian area once again, and the news has brought a wry smile to the face of one of the most vocal campaigners against the buses using the pedestrian area – Independent Councillor Brian Rush.
“I was mildly amused by our newly elected Labour group’s recent suggestion that they would be pushing to get rid of the horrible buses in the precinct, and of course they will receive my support for such moves,” he says in an e-mail to Boston Eye.
“But I seem to remember, that there was little reaction to the route, save for members of the pressure group.
“During this time I only remember (Mr. then) Paul Kenny did give his support to both myself and the then Councillor Anne Dorrian, as we suffered the slings and arrows of Lincolnshire County Council, and the compliant Richard Austin with his BBI Hate Squad.
“It was only when this noisy public protest was organised by us, that other councillors were alerted to this very unwelcome invasion.
“Followed then, by a day of collecting signatures from the public in a ‘Buses Yes,’ or ‘Buses No,’ campaign.
“We were of course massively supported by the public, in fact the enthusiasm of many brave souls brought somewhat over-reaction from our local constabulary, but it must be said that our local Conservative ‘politicians’ were not quite so visible or supportive of the demonstration.
“It was only when they were shown the rage of the people and the media attention the campaign received, that they realised just how live the issue was, that they began to even whisper about it.
“More importantly, I was excited by my Conservative colleagues in opposition, who assured me that they, too, were now against the invasion, and would welcome an immediate re-routing.
“Soooo ... now our Conservative councillors have control of the council this gives them an early and wonderful opportunity to show the people of Boston that they will hastily rectify this terrible Lincolnshire County Council mistake.
“I am confident that all members will be getting behind the proposal, and the precinct will belong to the people once again in the next few weeks, or ok, maybe a month! But no more, Mr. Bedford.”
Boston Eye has already said that we doubt that the Tories will do anything about the route.
We think that they will very much play second fiddle to their masters at County Hall – and we are certain that they will not even consider looking at re-routing the service.

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