The Borough of Boston is a
local government district
The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...
with
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
status in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
, England. Its council is based in the town of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. The borough covers a wider area that includes villages such as
Wyberton
__NOTOC__
Wyberton is a village in Lincolnshire, England. It lies just south-west of Boston, and on the B1397 – the former A16 London Road – between Boston and Kirton. The A16 bisects the village. The population of the civil p ...
,
Butterwick,
Kirton-in-Holland
Kirton or Kirton in Holland is an English village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 5,371.
History
The Domesday Book of 1086 terms the village ''Cherchetune''. ...
,
Langrick Bridge
Langrick Bridge is a village in the civil parish of Holland Fen with Brothertoft in the Boston (borough), Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The village is in the The Fens, Lincolnshire Fens, north-west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston a ...
,
Sutterton
__NOTOC__
Sutterton is a village and rural parish in the Boston District of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the Civil Parish at the 2011 census was 1,585.
Governance
The parish used to form part of the Boston Rural District, in the P ...
,
Swineshead,
Old Leake
Old Leake is a village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,022.
Old Leake is situated approximately north-east from Boston, and on the A52 road between Leverton and Wrangle a ...
,
Fosdyke
Fosdyke is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 480. It is situated approximately south from Boston, just off the A17, and east from the junction ...
,
Kirton Holme and
Hubberts Bridge
Hubberts Bridge is a village in the borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. It is situated within the civil parish of Frampton, and approximately west from Boston.
The village name derives from the bridge crossing the South Forty-Foot Drai ...
.
The borough borders
East Lindsey
East Lindsey is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The population of the district council was 136,401 at the 2011 census. The council is based in Manby. Other major settlements in the district include Alford, Wragby, Spilsby ...
to the north,
North Kesteven
North Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The district is located to the east of Nottinghamshire, north-east of Leicestershire and south of the city of Lincoln. Its council, North Kesteven District Council, is bas ...
to the west and
South Holland
South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...
to the south. To the east is
The Wash
The Wash is a rectangular bay and multiple estuary at the north-west corner of East Anglia on the East coast of England, where Norfolk, England, Norfolk meets Lincolnshire and both border the North Sea. One of Britain's broadest estuaries, it i ...
.
At the
2011 Census, the population of the borough was 64,637.
History
The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the former
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of Boston with
Boston Rural District
Boston was a rural district in Holland, Lincolnshire, Holland, Lincolnshire from 1894 to 1974. It was formed from the Boston rural sanitary district by the Local Government Act 1894 and did not include the municipal borough of Boston, Lincolnshire ...
.
Until 1974, Lincolnshire comprised three Parts, somewhat like the Ridings of Yorkshire. These were the
Parts of Lindsey
The Parts of Lindsey are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. The Isle of Axholme, which is on the west side of the River Trent, has normally formed part of it. The district's name origina ...
,
Kesteven
The Parts of Kesteven ( or ) are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England. This division had long had a separate county administration (quarter sessions), along with the two other Parts of Lincolnshire, Lindsey and Holland.
Etymology
Th ...
and
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
. In their final form, they were each, in effect, an administrative county. The 1974 changes divided the Parts of Holland into two
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
; the Borough of Boston is the northern one.
Management
*Summary of th
Council's organisationDay to day management*Key to descriptions o
council services
Political composition
The political composition of the council following the elections in
May 2015 and
May 2019 are as follows:
In 2015 no party had a majority, but the
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
had minority control. In 2019 the Conservatives won a clear majority of seats.
[
]
Election results
For full election results see: Boston local elections.
Electoral arrangements
The Borough is divided into fifteen electoral wards
The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...
covering both the town of Boston and surrounding rural areas. The boundaries were redrawn in 2013 and used in borough elections since 2015. The wards are listed below, showing the number of councillors elected by each:
*Coastal: 2;
*Fenside: 2;
*Fishtoft: 3;
*Five Villages: 2;
*Kirton and Frampton: 3;
*Old Leake and Wrangle: 2;
*Skirbeck: 3;
*St Thomas’: 1;
*Staniland: 2;
*Station: 1;
*Swineshead and Holland Fen: 2;
*Trinity: 2;
*West: 1;
*Witham: 2;
*Wyberton: 2.
2016 EU referendum
On 23 June 2016 the Borough of Boston voted in the UK-wide Referendum on membership of the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015
The European Union Referendum Act 2015c. 36 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made legal provision for a consultative referendum to be held in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, on whether it should remain a member state ...
. In a turnout of 77%, over 75% voted to leave the EU, the highest leave majority of the 382 UK voting areas. The local MP Matt Warman
Matthew Robert Warman (born 1 September 1981) is a British Conservative Party politician and former journalist who served as Minister of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from July to September 2022. He has been the ...
, a Conservative, had campaigned for a "Remain" vote.
Freedom of the Borough
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough
The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...
of Boston.
Individuals
* Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
Sir Jonathan Van-Tam: 21 March 2022.
Military Units
* RAF Coningsby
Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and hom ...
: 16 May 1963.
In the media
In May 2020, East Lindsey district council and Boston borough council announced proposals to merge gradually over 10 years, with the intention of saving taxpayers £15.4m. However, in June 2020, ''Lincolnshire Live'' newspaper reported the "anger" after a vote on the proposals due to be put to councillors was cancelled as Boston borough council leader, Paul Skinner, expected the plans would likely be rejected. He told the newspaper "The motion was withdrawn because some people were making it known that they might vote against it".
In October 2020, ''Private Eye'' reported the outgoing chief executive, Phil Drury, received a £443,998 exit payment and compared it to a £440,000 payment made to the London Borough of Croydon's then new chief executive, Jo Negrini.[Private Eye, Issue 1532, p.21]
Arms
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston, Borough of
Non-metropolitan districts of Lincolnshire
Local government districts of the East Midlands
Boroughs in England