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The end of democracy?
Tuesday, 12pm - IS DEMOCRACY dead? This is the question one Boston borough councillor has been asking himself after seeing buses run through the pedestrianised precinct.
This is the question one Boston borough councillor has been asking himself after seeing buses run through the pedestrianised precinct.
Coun John Rylatt voted in support of the Transport Strategy for Boston, which has resulted in the new Into Town bus service. But at no point did he vote for buses to run through the precinct.
"The people of Boston are under the misapprehension that this has been done democratically and that their elected members have sanctioned this, which is not the case," he said. "It has been sanctioned by a handful of cabinet members."
As part of the previous administration, at a meeting in January 2007 Coun Rylatt showed support for the transport strategy.
Part of the detailed document stated: "Investigations would be undertaken to identify the best route for the service to take to ensure that the service is quick, reliable and frequent. For example, it could either use the same roads as the rest of the traffic or the buses could travel through the pedestrianised area at Strait Bargate."
Coun Rylatt is concerned the word 'could' has been turned into 'will' – without him and many of his fellow colleagues knowing a thing about it.
He says the first indication of this comes from the minutes of a Boston Transport Strategy meeting involving officers from Boston borough and Lincolnshire county councils in June of last year.
They state the borough's new leader, Richard Austin, backed the scheme.
The minutes read: '…had a call from Coun Austin stressing full support of the Boston Borough Council executive to the town bus service'.
There was a further meeting between the two authorities in November – this time involving five members from the borough's decision-making cabinet. This included Couns Austin, Peter Jordan, Ray Newell and former Coun Neil McGregor. Coun Jim Blaylock was also present and, according to the notes from that meeting, was the only person to raise concerns about the routes.
Coun Rylatt said: "At some point we have gone from the concept of a transport strategy which didn't say buses would go through Strait Bargate to it being agreed."One has to question the need for 32 councillors if this is how they are going to operate."
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Weather for Boston, Lincolnshire
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 26 mph
Wind direction: North east
