Agenda and minutes

Following his election to the Office of Mayor on 22^nd May 2023 the Mayor made his Mayoral Address and acknowledged the honour that had been conferred on him.

Mrs Linda Favell was then asked to accept the role of Mayoress. Mrs Favell was then presented the Mayoress’ Badge.

Following Councillor Richard Austin’s appointment as Deputy Mayor at the meeting on the 25^th May, Councillor Alison Austin was appointed as Deputy Mayoress and the Chain of Office was presented.

Apologies of absence were received from Councillors Arayambath, Izard and Bedford.

Councillor Patsie Marson moved a vote of thanks to Councillor Anne Dorrian as retiring mayor highlighting the positive impacts that she had made in the community through her selfless approach in the role;

It was seconded by Councillor Dale Broughton and;

RESOLVED: That the best of thanks of the Council be extended to Councillor Anne Dorrian for her term of office as Mayor.

It was proposed, seconded and;

RESOLVED: That the best of thanks of the Council be extended to Brian Rush for the admirable manner in which he has carried out his duties as Deputy Mayor during the period of Office.

(1)  The Mayor handed the Sash of Office to the new Mayor’s Scout, Lukasz Grabowski

The Mayor expressed her appreciation to Miss Beth Burt, the retiring Mayor’s Guide, for the manner in which she carried out her duties during the past year and handed the Sash of Office to the new Mayoress’ Guide, Fraeya Holstead. 

That under Section 100(a)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the Meeting for the following item on the grounds that, if they were present, there could be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) 1, 2 & 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended).

Council agreed the exempt minute with no amendments so this item was not required.

To sign the open and exempt minutes of the previous meetings held;

22^nd May 2023

25^th May 2023

The Minutes of the two previous meetings held 22^nd May and 25^th May 2023 were agreed.

There were none

There were none

The following questions were received;

Question from Councillor Claire Rylott to Councillor Anne Dorrian:

“On the 19^th January Boston Borough Council received a letter from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Community. The council were informed that they had been successful in their Levelling Up Fund Application for “The Rosegarth Square Masterplan”, a sum of just under Fifteen Million Pounds. Could you please give members an update on the progress of this project.”

Response from Councillor Anne Dorrian:

Thank you for your question Cllr Rylott,

As you have rightly stated, the Council received notification of its successful bid in January. Since then, Officers have been working with the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities; as well as other partner agencies and stakeholders to mobilise delivery of the projects which formed the bid.

As I am sure you appreciate, until the Council had received formal confirmation of the funding delivery and associated agreements with Government, it would not have been prudent to commit significant Council resources. In addition, the local elections added further complexity to this and the ability to keep Members and the public updated.

            However, I am pleased to confirm:

1.    That the Memorandum with Government has been signed, returned and agreed.

2.    The Council has had its ‘Inception Meeting’ with civil servant colleagues.

3.    The first round of Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) has been returned.

4.    The first tranche of funding, circa £1.8m has been received.

5.    Positive discussions have been held with the YMCA, who are immensely keen to progress their project and are gearing up internal and external teams.

6.    Positive discussions have been held with private landowners and their representatives (B&M and Crown House)

7.    The Council has begun to mobilise to bring in additional capacity and staffing resource to manage the project development and delivery.

8.    An update on progress has been given to the latest Boston Town Deal Board, as well as updates to the Community Leaders forum and Primary Care Network (PCN).

9.    We have just received our next M&E request for a meeting with civil servants and anticipate a second tranche of funding to be received over the summer.

The entire Cabinet have been brought up to speed with the project and its aims, and I am pleased to say we continue to support this investment which could be transformational for this part of town. I have also had the benefit of a walkabout tour of the site, in order to discuss the plans in great detail and I am incredibly keen to see progress on the ground as soon as possible. This is a view that I have shared with the officer team.

I am also pleased to say that, as indicated by part of the report later on this agenda, Officers have held considerably positive discussions with NHS colleagues in relation to linked developments of a potential Community Diagnostic Centre which would complement the Levelling Up fund projects; and also the potential delivery of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 116.

Question from Dr Elwood on behalf of Boston Woods Trust to Councillor Andy Izard:

“We would like to congratulate Councillor Izard on being appointed to the Cabinet and as a representative of the Council to the Boston Woods Trust. We look forward to welcoming you to our meetings.

The Boston Woods Trust is a small local charity that was established in 2001. The Trust is run entirely by volunteers and relied on donations and grants for funding. Since being established about 20 years ago it has created three large country parks and nature reserves on the outskirts of Boston with virtually no cost to the Council. They are, The Sir Joseph Banks Country Park, the Fenside Woods and now Dion’s Wood Nature Reserve. In the same period of time the Borough has created, the Witham Way Country Park, Havenside Country Park and the Old Cemetery.

The Boston Woods Trust sites are open to the public throughout the year seven days a week free of charge. They are very well used and contribute significantly to the health and wellbeing of the population and visitor economy.

However, the Borough pays for the emptying of the bins in the Borough’s parks but charges the Boston Woods Trust for the emptying of their bins. The Boston Woods Trust ask Andy Izard if the annual charge to the Trust of £2,632 for emptying the bins be found from Borough finances?”

Response from Councillor Callum Butler as relevant Portfolio Holder:

“Firstly, I’d like to express the Council’s thanks to the Boston Woods Trust for all they and other volunteer groups and organisations do within the Borough to create a more welcoming and attractive environment. Where a Charity requests the Council provides waste collection from its premises, then a collection charge is made in line with The Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012. All Charities in the Borough are treated in the same way to ensure the Council is acting with fairness, transparency, and consistency. In 2008 the Boston Woods trust were funded By Boston Borough Council to the tune of £50,000 a figure that could hardly be described as virtually no cost.”

Supplemental Question from Dr Elwood:

“Firstly, I would like to set the record straight. Boston Woods Trust did not receive £50,000 from Boston Borough Council in 2008. I want to point out that all the rubbish collected from the Boston Woods sites have been generated from local residents and visitors, none has been a result of work by the charity. I feel that this is a significantly different situation to other charities. It should also be pointed out that money spent on rubbish collection is money no longer available for furthering the work of the Boston Woods Trust. I ask that in view of this the Council would review their decision.

Supplementary Response

Councillor Butler confirmed that he had nothing further to add at this time.

No declarations were received

(A report by Rhonda Booth, Democratic Services Manager)

Following the meeting on the 22^nd May where appointments to external bodies were made, some further vacancies had arisen.

It was proposed, seconded and;

RESOLVED: That;

• Councillor Neil Drayton be appointed to the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board.
• Councillor Welberry be appointed as the member representative to the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire.

Councillor Lina Savickiene be appointed as a substitute to the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire.

(A report by Mike Gildersleeves, Assistant Director – Planning & Strategic Infrastructure)

The Leader presented a report which asked Members to formally accept grant funding and agree the necessary amendments to the Council budget.

The Council had been approached by the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to work collaboratively with them to develop a business case and strategy to support a proposal to facilitate the delivery of a new health facility for Boston Borough. The facility would be multi-service and would support the continued delivery and advancement of health and well-being for the residents and communities for Boston. Focused on the delivery of primary care facilities the proposals would also consider other healthcare and well-being opportunities to improve health and well-being outcomes for people, as well as contributing positively towards other objectives such as carbon reduction, and regeneration/ place-shaping.

The ICB had secured £650k in national funding, which they wished to grant to the Council as revenue towards the commissioning and delivery of the business case. The Council and the ICB would be partners in the piece of work, and it would be jointly resourced.

The project would build on existing work being undertaken with the ICB, NHS and Greater Lincolnshire One Public Estate (OPE). There were also links with other work the Council is leading on including the successful Levelling Up bid wider work relating to ‘pe21’, the Towns Fund investment (as set out in the published Town Investment Plan); and other collaborations undertaken both by the Council and the wider South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership.

Concern was raised by members around the need for scrutiny.  It was confirmed that once the proposal was worked up scrutiny would be involved in the decision making route.

Support was expressed for securing the additional funding for the proposals.

In response to concerns regarding staff capacity to support this work the Leader confirmed that some of the funding could be used for staffing and noted the concern raised regarding officer time.

The Leader confirmed that the timescales were tight with work having to be commenced by late summer and the funding spent in the next financial year. 

It was proposed, seconded and;

RESOLVED: That Council;

(1)  Agree to formally accept the £650k grant funding from the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and the Council’s budget be amended accordingly.

(2)  Note the purpose of the grant funding – for revenue funding towards delivery of a business case and associated strategy

(3)  Support in principle the project aims, for the benefit of residents of Boston Borough

Note that the subsequent revenue spend is a matter for the Cabinet; and that the contract award is subject of existing delegations to Officers.