Local schools cuts hit those who need most help...

Jobs are being axed at a south Lincs school which says Tory-run Lincolnshire County Council has cut funds for children with additional needs.

Sad to see that jobs of seven teaching assistants and two support staff are being scrapped at Robert Manning in Bourne - a first-rate school which produces excellent results - despite seeing the most academically gifted youngsters creamed off by Bourne Grammar School.

Bourne Grammar of course also produces some impressive results too!!

But has anyone heard of cuts at Bourne Grammar...?

Watch this space....!

Maverick Mark quits council...

Just heard that Mark Horn has resigned from with immediate effect as county councillor for Bourne.

Maverick Mark was elected as a Conservative but went Independent last month after a series of fall-outs with the controlling group - and Council Leader Martin Hill in particular.

Notably, he was the only Tory councillor to have the balls to oppose the 78.9 per cent increase in council tax for policing which was pushed through by the Conservative county councillors on the police authority and later capped by Government.

He claimed that the record increase demonstrated arrogance and was totally unjustified - and no doubt incensed Martin Hill when he was the only Tory in the chamber who refused to back moves to prevent the county council debating why the Conservative members of the Authority had supported the eye-watering increase.

Mark had even publicly called for capping - which of course added to internal Conservative party problems and pressure within the controlling group.

Last year, Mark strongly criticised Grantham and Stamford Conservatives choice of candidate at the next general election, describing all those shortlisted as:

wealthy, metropolitan, priviliged, bright young things...totally out of touch with ordinary folk...None of these ‘A-listers’ have any local connections. They are simply careerists looking for a safe seat.

He also stood up strongly for gypsy and traveller rights - and refused to take a populist stance over.

A couple of months ago he accused the Conservatives of losing control of the budget on care homes for elderly people.

I understand that he was recently referred to the Standards Board by Cllr Hill over an exchange of emails with my colleague on the Labour group Chris Burke.

I've 'locked horns' with Mark on numerous occasions in the council chamber - but I respected his outspoken views (most of the time!!) despite them usually being very different to my own. On occasion I've enjoyed a quiet beer or two with Mark when between us we put the world to rights...

Born in South Africa, Mark is a trained London barrister who was clearly too radical and too much of a handful for Lincolnshire Tories who never quite knew how to handle him.

Every time he stood up in a Council debate, it was always entertaining watching the faces of the all-Tory Executive who never knew what was coming next. They tried - but clearly failed - to contain him.

But Mark is also a real character who brought much-needed colour to council debates.

He stood up for what he believed to be right, refused to be 'whipped' by his own political group, and he will be missed by all sides.

I wish him well for the future.

(more later...)

Radical answers needed on Lincs roads...?

Lincolnshire roads have seen one of the biggest increases in traffic over the past decade - with central London the only place in the country to see a fall in vehicle numbers since 1997, according to tonight's Lincolnshire Echo.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone took a lot of flak when he brought in the controversial Congestion Zone - and it now costs £8 a day to drive into the centre of the capital.

But it's clearly effective in cutting traffic when all else has failed - and of course improving air quality in the capital. Ken has used the revenue generated by the Congestion Charge to massively invest in buses and the tube.

The result is that today, London is the only major city in the world to shift travellers out of their cars and onto public transport.

Local campaigners say Lincolnshire is heading for 'traffic hell' if action is not taken soon.

Central London and rural Lincolnshire could hardly be different, of course.

But radical solutions sometimes achieve results, as Ken clearly demonstrates.

I don't pretend to have all the answers - but I've long been convinced that sooner or later, we'll have to have some sort of Park-and-Ride service in the Deepings area to meet the extra traffic on the A15 Peterborough-Bourne corridor caused the huge increase in development in recent years.

What do you think?

A champion for rail commuters...sometimes

Bourne Tory Mark Horn is attacking plans which could see rail fares from Peterborough rise by more than two-per-cent above inflation over the duration of the seven year franchise recently won by National Express.

The bus company justifies its fare hikes to pay for increased and improved services with more trains and more seats - and promises to cap season ticket increases to one per cent above inflation.

But Mark, a member of the ruling Conservative Group on Lincolnshire County Council -
and also a regular commuter - tells the Peterborough Evening Telegraph that the increases can't be justified and complains that they will force commuters back into their cars.

He may have a valid argument.

But then I don't recall Mark championing the commuters' cause when his Tory mates at Peterborough City Council doubled charges recently for on street parking near the station used by commuters.

Closer to home, I also don't recall him saying a dickie bird when his own Group at Lincolnshire County Council trebled home care charges for vulnerable people he was elected to represent.