Tories take revenge by scrapping Audit Commission...

The Tories have finally taken their revenge on the Audit Commission which played a key role in uncovering scandals such as the criminal ways of Jim 'Jailbird' Speechley in running Lincolnshire County Council - and of course illegal gerrymandering by Shirley 'homes for votes' Porter.

Staff at the Commission, told by email today that the ConDem Government was scrapping the Audit Commission, leaving no national body to step in when there's a major failing in a local council by politicians of any persuasion - whether right here in Lincolnshire, or anywhere else in the country.

Another Tory Leader steps down after planning questions...

The Conservative Leader of a Lincolnshire Council has been forced to step down after a newspaper investigation into a planning matters.

Bernard Theobald is facing questions over a planning application to develop land he jointly purchased with another elected member of his controlling group.

The previous owner claims that before he sold the land, planning officers at West Lindsey District Council advised him that he wouldn't get planning permission for a development.

I knew Bernard some years ago when we were on opposing sides at Lincolnshire County Council.

He was one of the Conservatives who worked behind the scenes to remove Jim Speechley as Leader after he was accused of abusing his power by attempting to divert a bypass to improve the value of a parcel of land he owned.

Speechley ended up in prison of course.

When shamed Speechley was finally forced from the Leadership, Bernard attempted to take over but couldn't muster enough support among his Tory colleagues. They preferred someone close to Speechley as their new Leader - Bourne councillor Ian Croft.

Croft himself was eventually banned from office following a Standards Board inquiry and Bernard went on to lose his county seat at the next local electons!

A third Conservative member of Cllr Theobald's Conservative Group has reportedly admitted that he has met a West Lindsey planning officer who has been suspended pending an inquiry.

The final straw for Bernard seems to have been his own Deputy demanding his resignation!

You couldn't make it up.

UPDATE: A personal statement from Bernard Theobald appears on West Lindsey Council's website in which he denies any wrong-doing, blames the Lincolnshire Echo, and says he's passed their reports to his lawyers.

UPDATE 2: Just googled Bernard Theobald and the first page to appear on my screen is this from West Lindsey Council's own site which shows that as well as being Conservative Leader, Cllr Theobald was also chairman of a committee.

Yes, you've guessed it...the planning committee.

Watch this space...!

UPDATE 3: Cllr Theobald has been accused of being present at a secret meeting with a West Lindsey planning officer who was suspended at the time, pending an investigation.

How do we know...? The secret meeting has been reported by Cllr Theobald's Deputy Leader who was also at the meeting - which took place at his home.

That's the Deputy Leader who later called for Cllr Theobald to stand down and has since taken over the Leadership of the Council.

The plot thickens...

Has Chief Exec been handed £100k to go...?

With unconfirmed reports that the Chief Exec of SKDC has trousered more than £100,000 to clear his desk - and with a wall of silence from the Conservatives who run the council - I've today lodged Freedom of Information questions today to try to get to the truth of the affair.

I had hoped the Council would come clean by now and reveal the costs to the public purse. But it seems not even the report in the Grantham Journal that he has collected over £100k has flushed them out.

I'm not a member of SKDC - but as a county councillor I saw first hand the disgraceful behaviour that went on to get rid of the Chief Exec of Lincolnshire County Council following the jailing of Conservative Leader Jim Speechley.

That scandal cost local taxpayers £400,000 in the payoff alone.

This time, with no word either from those elected to stand up for the Deepings in Grantham, more than a week after the Chief Exec of SKDC went, the FOI route seems the only way...

Duncan Kerr apparently cleared his desk last Monday after a secret meeting of elected councillors.

I posted HERE and HERE.

Watch this space!

Determined to ask the awkward questions...

Surprised that I seem to be the only local councillor calling for more information about the cost of the mysterious sudden departure of the Chief Executive of South Kesteven District Council.

I was interviewed for the Oakham-based Oak FM last night and quoted in today's Stamford Mercury trying to get the Conservatives who run SKDC to come clean and reveal what deal has been agreed - and at what expense to the public purse.

Linda Neal, the Conservative Leader of SKDC is denying that Duncan's departure is sudden, claiming she's been speaking with him all year about him going!

But she hasn't explained why the man we paid £105,000 a year to run our district council cleared his desk on the day of a secret meeting of councillors earlier this week, and apparently biked into the sunset.

Given that I'd been hearing rumours that the Tories wanted rid of him, I find it hard to accept that he's walked - or biked - from his £105k a year job without negotiating a generous severance deal.

I'm surprised no other local councillor else seems to be speaking out in the local media - specially as the Tories in Lincolnshire have form on getting rid of chief execs (after Tory Leader of the county council Jim Speechley was jailed for abuse of office, they launched a witch-hunt to sack David Bowles. He agreed to go for a payoff of £400,000- and we're all still paying the price of Speechley...)

Given what I know about the Speechley scandal and the cover-up antics at County Hall which followed his imprisonment, I'm determined to get the the bottom of the cost of Duncan Kerr's departure.

Someone has to speak up on behalf of local taxpayers and get answers about how much Duncan's departure is costing us all...and I full intend to keep asking the awkward questions.

Watch this space.

What cost the Chief Exec's sudden departure?

Serious questions need to be asked following the sudden departure of Duncan Kerr from his £105,000 a year job as Chief Exec of our district council.

He was no friend of the Deepings. But in the interests of taxpayers, someone surely needs to ask how much it's costing us to see him 'get on his bike'.

A couple of weeks ago, I was tipped off by a usually reliable source that the Tories who run the Grantham-based South Kesteven District Council were planning to 'get rid' of their chief officer Duncan Kerr by staging a 'vote of no confidence'.

Sure enough, earlier this week, an 'extraordinary' secret meeting of the Council was held, followed by an official press release saying Duncan Kerr he was leaving that very day.

Not even a day's notice?

In fact, it seems he'd already cleared his desk and was no more.

A press release was issued after the meeting saying that Duncan Kerr would be leaving that very day. The only comment was from the dearly departed himself saying what a swell time he's had as boss of SKDC.

What wasn't in the press release spoke volumes. No comment from anyone other than the dearly departed himself, who claims he's decided to 'take his life in another direction'. Answers on a postcard, if anyone knows what that means.
A second press release appeared on SKDC's website at the same time to announce the appointment of an interim chief executive.

In contrast to the first release, Council Leader Linda Neal says the Council's strategic director has 'the council's full confidence and support' and she's 'delighted' that she's accepted the role of interim boss.

In other words, Duncan Kerr doesn't enjoy the council's confidence or support!

I don't know what's led to Mr Kerr's departure. Certainly, eyebrows were raised last year when he was given three months (unpaid) off for a biking holiday when it seems that the council realised they could manage without Mr Kerr.

This time, it seems, he's been told to get on bike and don't bother coming back!

Lincolnshire Tories of course have form in 'getting rid' of Chief Execs.

At the county council, the Chief Exec David Bowles called in the police leading their Leader Jim Speechley going to prison for abuse of office.

The Tories vowed to 'get rid' of David Bowles for his 'treachery'.

The price to the public purse was a massive £400,000 pay-off to Mr Bowles which the Tories tried to keep secret.

After that disgraceful episode, the county council was forced to pay a massive premium to attract top officers to work in Lincolnshire.

Much has changed since then. But every taxpayer in Lincolnshire is still paying the price of Speechley.

So isn't it reasonable to now ask what's the price of Mr Kerr's departure?

It seems that, like Mr Bowles, the Tories wanted Mr Kerr to go.

Are we expected to believe that he just decided to simply walk (or cycle!) away from his £105,000 a year salary without giving any notice?

Or has he done a deal?

If so, what's it costing us?

We deserve to be told.

A question of honour...

Jim Speechley, former Tory Leader of Lincolnshire County Council was stripped of his CBE honour after he was jailed for abuse of office.

Absolutely right that the shamed ex-Crowland councillor can no longer claim to be a Commander of the Order of the British Empire...

I've just heard Channel Four News announce that the Government has begun the first steps to strip Robert Mugabe of the knighthood bestowed on him by Tory Prime Minister John Major for his 'significant contribution to Zimbabwe's relationship with Britain'.

About time too.

(Can't find a link on the internet yet, but here's Reuters report on Mugabe's 'obscene' appearance at an international conference in Rome today...)

But why oh why is former Lincolnshire Tory MP 'Baron' Jeffrey Archer of Weston-Super-Mare still officially a Lord, despite being sent to jail for four years in disgrace for perjury and conspiracy...?

Any ideas...?

Speechley 'whistle-blower' oversees healthy surplus for Lincs hospitals...

Good to see that Lincolnshire's hospitals have achieved financial surplus for the first time - and that one of the key figures behind the success is David Bowles who played a crucial role in the jailing of Jim Speechley, former Conservative Leader of Lincolnshire County Council.

The Tories who ran the council never forgave Chief Executive David Bowles for insisting on high standards and eventually calling in the police to investigate Speechley's abuse of power.

Bowles should have been awarded a medal for the public service he performed as whistle-blower in exposing the Speechley scandal.

Instead, following the jailing of Speechley for abuse of office, his Tory mates took their vengeance out on Bowles - disgracefully forcing him out of his job - at a cost to Lincolnshire taxpayers of a huge £400,000 payoff and a massive pay hike to attract a new Chief Executive.

David Bowles could easily have retired into obscurity - but he was determined to continue his career in public service and is now chairman of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust which I'm please to report has just achieved a £12.5 million surplus.

The Trust has been heavily in debt for years, but under David's chairmanship, is now on course to achieve break-even over five years which will allow it to become a foundation trust free from direct government control.

As well as financial achievements, the Trust has also recently made medical advances: Clostridium difficile infections are down 41 per cent, MRSA infections down 37 per cent and waiting times for treatment, diagnosis and A&E all reduced.

It's good to see David's skills and decency appreciated rather more than they were by the Tories who run Lincolnshire County Council, as reported at the time by The Guardian.

Lincs no longer the baddest council...

A couple of years ago Tory Lincolnshire County Council was in the running for "The Baddest Council in Britain" after a shameful catalogue of events which ended with former Leader Jim Speechley being sent to prison for abuse of power.

Now the Daily Mirror has found a new contender for the title in Lib-Dem Southwark Borough in London...

Bill trebles for road that cost Tory Leader his freedom...

The road project that led to the jailing of former Tory Leader of Lincolnshire County Council Jim Speechley is back in the news after it has been revealed that it is to cost more than three times original estimates - and that's before work has even started.

Speechley went to prison three years ago for dishonestly attempting to influence the route of the A1073 round Crowland.

But work on the controversial road has still not even begun - latest start date is next April.

Meanwhile, delays and engineering complications have seen the estimate cost soar from £24 million to over £80 million.

So the road is costing us all much more than we bargained for - not just Jim Speechley!

As county councillor for Deeping St James, I have serious concerns about the spiralling costs of the road and intend asking a number of questions.

More later...

Manwhile, the Lincolnshire Echo report on the rising costs...