Our Friday miscellany of the week's
news and events
The vexed issue of councillors’ allowances has again come to the fore – leading to big headlines pointing out that they will total 85% of the current £2,378 annual allowance over three years. The borough launched a damage limitation exercise on its website saying that basic allowances have not increased for six years, and are currently far below those paid by other authorities. Whether that can justify the line that “Boston borough councillors are best value in the county, if not the country,” is another matter. A handful of the borough’s 32 councillors voted against the rise – and individuals can refuse to take it if they wish. We’ve long expressed the view that councillors’ allowances are too small to attract the full range of skills and abilities needed to give the borough the best possible service. But what about the payments? They breakdown as follows: 2011-12 £674 - 28.34% 2012-13 £674 - 22.08% and 2013-14 £674 - 18.09%. Overall this gives a pay rise of 85.03%. An average meeting time of say two hours, three times a month - plus time spent on constituency matters comes to around ten hours a month. That’s 120 hours a year which works out at £36.66 per hour – the equivalent of a university lecturer pay grade - and that’s just the basic allowance.
Boston’s Mayor Councillor Mary Wright has caused more than a ripple of amusement among her colleagues after she issued this round-robin e-mail to all councillors. “A statement was made by a Councillor at the Council Meeting that most members were Old Age Pensioners, although I did not pick this up on a point of order which I should have done. Can I please remind Members that it is an offence to call people ‘Old’, they should be referred to as Senior Citizens.” Whilst we appreciate that the law is very stringent in matters of ageism, we can say with some certainty that it is not “an offence” to call people old. In fact, age is often worn as a badge of honour these days. How often do you hear people declare: “I’m a pensioner, you know…?” But how about the claim itself? People wear better these days than they used to - but a quick look at the list of councillors suggests that at least 14 of the 32 members are old age pensioners, and we suspect that the claim that the majority are is not that far adrift. What the council’s average is, would be interesting to know.An act of kindness was swiftly forthcoming for councillors who might be feeling their age with the delivery of a 1kg bag of Swizzels butterscotch to the members’ lounge with the gift card message “For the seniors amongst the Councillors, Sorry I could not get Werthers Originals. Keep up the good work.” Ironically, when they were delivered they were signed for by someone named "Wright."
Boston Labour councillors Paul Kenny and Paul Goodale have attacked the Tories on the licensing/regulatory and appeals committee for rejecting calls to adopt a taxi fare tariff which was “fair to people living within the town.” A new increase will see a 12% slapped on in-town routes but greatly reduced fares for people living further away. The councillor called the charges “inequitable and unfair.” They said people living near the town centre with disabilities, older people without cars, and anyone who had to depend on taxis to do shopping or attend doctor’s appointments and the like, would have to pay a higher percentage in the new tariff. We wonder whether anyone has concluded that this penalty scale is the perfect way to force more people on to the Into Town bus service – and therefore boost traffic figures and cement it into a permanent feature in Strait Bargate. But surely, no-one would be that cynical, would they?
What a lacklustre affair this week’s first real full meeting of Boston Borough Council turned out to be. Just two items on the agenda – the presentation of the Audit Committee Minutes, and a report by the Chief Executive on Members' Allowances – were there to occupy members. We criticised the previous administration for the way in which it turned what used to be the chance for councillors to discuss wide ranging areas of policy into a stagnant rubber stamping event. All it will do is drive away the few remaining members of the public who bother to attend – and perhaps even the local “newspapers” as well. Again, we ask the question - surely, no-one would be that cynical, would they?
An ironic postscript to the event of the past couple of days has been sent by a reader who tells us at Monday's full council meeting a question was asked about what the council was doing to stop the sale of black market alcohol and cigarettes from unlicensed premises. We're told that Council leader Peter Bedford replied that this was a police matter and did not involve the council. Not any more, we suspect.
We thought that the work on the Market Place was supposed to start at the beginning of the week, but that appears not to have been the case. We now hear that the work will start in earnest next week – a delay before it even gets started. As well as that we understand that parking and traffic movement - outside the cordoned off areas - will now apparently be allowed throughout the works “to be reasonable to the residents of Boston." Meanwhile, townsfolk claim they have never seen the market so busy, but felt that the shops looked deserted as a result of the new layout. And we’d love to know more about an amusing but unseemly incident when a convoy of vehicles drove the wrong way along the one-way section of Bargate on the Threadneedle Street side of the road – from Shephard’s Bakery to Pen Street. The elderly lead driver pulled up to the metal barriers and started sounding the horn of his Jaguar before a colleague from the convoy got out and began to move them, This attracted a string of abuse from a passer-by who shouted “you people think you own the town…” You people? We wonder who he meant. Finally, we’re told that buses have been banned from Strait Bargate on market days for “reasons of public safety” We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – if the service can run without befouling Strait Bargate for so long, then it can to avoid it for ever.
Despite being dead in the water for months, Boston Borough Council’s feeble Roll of Achievement shows no sign of either being removed or being integrated with some of the existing other material available. The roll now features more additions from research by the local University of the Third Age local history group based on street names than it does genuine nominations. When this feature appeared out of the blue, it was condemned by the Conservatives as a waste of money and a pointless exercise. Now they’re in power, why not kick the idea into touch?
The irony of all this was highlighted earlier in the week, when the 200th birthday of the great Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (right) - one of the most prolific architects that Great Britain has produced, who designed or altered on 800 buildings including the Albert Memorial. Scott was chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses. He built the workhouse on Skirbeck Road, and restored Boston Stump between 1851-53. But his connections with the town go well beyond that, as he married a local woman Caroline Oldrid - another famous name - in 1838. But do Sir George or Lady Scott rate a name check in the Roll of Honour – or the list of “Famous Bostonians?” Of course not!Another birthday for which the bunting was out was Boston’s “hugely-successful” Placecheck scheme which has celebrated two years working across five neighbourhoods in Boston - High Street South, Main Ridge East, Carlton Road, Witham East and Witham Central. Placecheck is one of these money pits whereby a local authority gets its hands on a pile of cash and feels compelled to spend it regardless. In this case, the amount involved was £100,000 - of which half was retained for administering the scheme, and the remaining £50,000 divided among the five projects areas. In most cases these gobbets of £10,000 a time have been spent on largely cosmetic schemes such as litter collecting, bulb planting and the like. Whilst the idea is probably seen as Boston’s version of the Big Society, we can’t help but think that all the work done in the past two years could have been achieved at a fraction of the cost.
Finally, thanks to the Boston Standard for this week’s comedy cutting.
You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.
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