Boston Borough Council Leader, Cllr Anne Dorrian, reflects on the first 12 months in office

Would you believe in May, the Boston Independent administration will have served this town for a year! Time has flown by - but what a fantastic 12 months it has been - with so much achieved for the borough!

Firstly, I would like to thank residents for their kindness and support to this Council since you put your trust in us at the last election. It was clear you wanted change and you wanted to be heard. From the get-go, our ambitious council has continuously worked hard to deliver on the manifesto promises that we made to you and we are delighted at the progress we have made thus far. It is equally important to actively listen to the needs of our residents and businesses so that we can work with you all to make the borough a better place to live, work and visit.

This council, while still being young, is greatly ambitious and we will continue to work hard to make Boston an even better place for everyone to live, work and visit.

One of the first actions of the Council was to bring more transparency to decision making. We have now ensured that all meetings of the Council are live streamed so that anyone can follow the debate from the comfort of their home.

We have also introduced a public 'meet the Cabinet' session, creating another opportunity for residents to interact with us, without the need to submit questions in advance.

One of the many things we are most proud of is the way we have started to strengthen communities even further. We have recently celebrated our many volunteers and community achievements at the Boston Heroes awards, a fantastic event which highlighted the good work happening across the Borough

We are extremely conscious of the fact that we are here to serve the whole borough - not just the town of Boston - and to that end, we are delighted that relationships have been strengthened with the Borough's hard-working Parish Councils in a way which allows us to work much more closely together. The Council is also working closely with community groups, local schools and voluntary organisations; and Councillors remain very active across the wards they represent.

One of our biggest promises was to bring back Christmas! This was a real highlight of the year for the council and we were all chuffed to bits to see thousands of people enjoying themselves in Boston town centre! What you may not know, is that there were thousands more people watching at home and the Christmas lights switch-on was watched by more than 112,000 people on social media!

As promised in our manifesto, the administration delivered a Town Centre Strategy within six months of taking office and the actions within that document are well underway. To supplement and support this work, the Cabinet then approved an action plan regarding the town's historic market, earlier this year. The Council is committed to bringing new opportunities for residents and supporting the town centre so that businesses can thrive. Our whole focus is to install pride into the town and add to the retail and hospitality offer for visitors and residents, alike.

We have taken full advantage of government funding allowing us to purchase thirteen new homes, under the Local Authority Housing Fund scheme. Whilst we are not a housing provider as such, we see this is an important step in ensuring that we help to deliver high-quality homes for our local residents.

We have launched the Love Your Neighbourhood Campaign - another great initiative to celebrate Boston's community spirit and the many ways people take great pride in where they live. The categories include Best Front Garden, Most Attractive Street and Best Neighbourhood or village.

We are also bringing back the "Boston's Brilliant" calendar next year, which is a fantastic way to celebrate the beauty of the borough and the skill of our local photographers.

Our town's heritage and history are second to none, and we are extremely passionate about celebrating the legacy left to us by previous generations of local people. Buildings like The Guildhall sing with ancient and important stories, and we are determined that the tourist economy is brought to life for both visitors and residents.

The Council will continue to tackle anti-social behaviour and those who purposely spoil our beautiful borough through littering and fly-tipping. The Cabinet has increased the penalty for fly-tipping to the maximum allowed of £1,000; and we have also renewed our Public Space Protection Order which is helping to tackle street drinking. Our work to address these issues, done in partnership with Lincolnshire Police, is held as an exemplar; and through the receipt of a government grant we have been able to employ two Community Rangers to specifically tackle anti-social behaviour in the town centre.

The coming year ahead will see more progress in the delivery of schemes which have been funded through the Town Deal, the Levelling Up Partnership and the Long Term Plan for Towns. All of these funding streams aim to further support regeneration, improve public safety, help to address transport issues and support businesses.

I hope you have all seen the many positive changes this council has made - and will continue to do so - to make Boston even more brilliant! Everyone should be proud of the borough and talk positively about our heritage and the town's future. Yes, it has its challenges but I hope you have all seen how we have begun to address those difficulties and you know that we are committed to working hard on the issues which impact you the most.