The Wardman Wire

This is a sensational story which has been missed by all the national papers. I only found the detail because I am looking at the circumstances in each of the English councils controlled by Independent Groups.

In the election on 3rd May 2007, 25 of the 32 seats on Boston Council in Lincolnshire were won by the Boston Bypass Independents Group, formed by the Boston Bypass & Economic Growth Pressure Group.

Election won by Boston Bypass & Economic Growth Pressure Group

The unusual factor is that the protest worm has turned. These people are not Swampy or Antedeluvian Greens objecting to development; they are demanding that the District and County councils get their act together to sort out congestion in the town by developing an appropriate transport system.

The Group almost swept the board. The “Boston Bypass Independents” group, on a turnout up 9%:

• Won 25 from 32 seats
• Wiped out Labour and the LibDems.
• More than halved the 12 Tories to 5. Another 204 votes would have wiped out the Tories too.
• Only 2 Independents survived.
• Achieved more than half the total vote.
• Ejected 7 former mayors, and the current mayor elect from their seats.

The Bypass problems have been ongoing for a long time, have invilved almost every public regulatory body I have heard of.

It appears that the people of Boston simply lost their temper.

[tags]Iain Dale, Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston Bypass Independents, Boston Bypass & Economic Growth Pressure Group (BBEG), BBEG, bbeg.org.uk, richard austin, boston, independent council, boston borough council, lincs, lincolnshire counrty council, boston bypass, independent bypass group, transport policy, christian wolmar, uk-election-2007, uk-election-2007-england[/tags]

Story Missed by National Media

As I said, this story has been missed by the three quality national papers, the Times, The Guardian and the Telegraph, since May 3rd. The only national coverage I have seen was a brief page on the BBC:

The Independent Bypass Group has sensationally taken control of Boston Borough Council, with Labour being wiped out.

The bypass group secured 25 seats with the Conservatives taking five and independents two.

Council leader Mary Wright, a Conservative, was one of the casualties while Labour lost their 11 seats.

The protest group was “not surprised”:

Richard Austin, leader of the newly elected group, said the victory came as no surprise.

“We knew that the mood of the people of Boston was very black and they really do want something to happen to Boston that isn’t happening at the moment.

“It’s only a reflection of this black mood of the people of Boston.”

I hope the group have thought about more than bypasses. They will now be managing a budget in excess of £100m. It will be interesting to watch.

I am hoping to arrange an interview with a leader of the new governing group, so watch this space.

The other Boston Transport Scandal

Ironically, the more famous Boston - the one in the USA - has an even larger transport scandal. This relates to the so-called “Big Dig“, a project to build an underground bypass, which ended up taking 20 years and costing $14 billion rather than the planned $2.8 billion:

The Big Dig is the most expensive highway project in America. [1] Although the project was estimated at $2.8 billion in 1985, over $14.6 billion had been spent in federal and state tax dollars as of 2006. [2] The project has incurred criminal arrests, escalating costs, leaks, poor execution and use of substandard materials. The Massachusetts Attorney General is demanding contractors refund taxpayers $108 million for “shoddy work.” [3] The final ramp opened 13 January 2006.