How to save millions on teacher redundancies and supply teachers...

Lincolnshire County Council spent more than £2 million in redundancy payment for teachers in the past year.

In the same period, the same Conservative-controlled authority also spent £3.5 million to hire supply teachers and agency staff in the county's schools.

Could I suggest some joined-up thinking at county hall that might just save a few million quid of our money...?

Instead of sacking teachers when schools close or merge, would it not be possible to create an internal 'supply team' to fill in for sickness and some of the other inevitable emergencies faced by schools?

They could also be used as a team to assist head teachers in schools which need extra help raising standards...

What do you think?

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.

Why 'Every Child Matters' should be banned...

As a former county councillor, I know what a huge and positive difference the previous Government's 'Every Child Matters' programme made to transform and modernise childrens' services, not only here in Lincolnshire, but across the entire country.

But it seems the ConDems are so rattled by the success of 'Every Child Matters', that they want to ban its very name.

Isn't there something deeply worrying - and rather Stalinist - about Tory Ministers who moaned endlessly about political correctness and spin prior to the General Election, but now spending their time writing pointless edicts to ban phrases they don't like.

Isn't it even more worrying when you learn the author is Michael Gove, the man who scrapped 700 school buildings projects - and had to issue FIVE lists because he kept getting his facts wrong?

Would it be churlish of me to suggest that his time would be better spent concentrating on getting his facts right, rather than on spin and political correctness...?

New Tory MP supports making museum history...

The Tory adviser who has become MP for the historic town of Stamford fails to support the campaign to prevent closure of the local museum in the next round of cash-cuts proposed by his mates on Conservative-run Lincolnshire County Council...

I can't help contrasting Labour's achievement of boosting attendance at museums and art galleries by making public access free of charge - and the Conservative plan to shut them down!

UPDATE: Lincolnshire County Council says Stamford is the 'finest stone town in England' and has a promo on its own website extolling the educational opportunities at the museum they are proposing to shut down.

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....!

Tory cuts hit Lincs families who need most help...

Families in Lincolnshire caring for children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus have been dealt a devastating blow by local Conservatives.

The Tories who run Lincolnshire County Council have decided to axe funding the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.

Next week the group, which supports 155 people and their families in Lincolnshire, will lose its £17,000 annual grant.

In the scheme of things, and given LCC's whopping budget, £17k does not sound like a lot of money to provide support to 155 families. It's a little over £100 per family. No doubt the costs of a local authority social worker offering similar support would be considerably more than that.

Having served as a county councillor for eight years until last year, I could certainly suggest a few more effective ways of saving a few bob of taxpayers money...

Why is it that those who need our help most always seem to suffer first when it comes to 'efficiency savings'...?

In any case, as this letter from the Association in the Stamford Mercury suggests, the cost-cutting may be a false economy. In the end it will be social services who have to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong for the families helped by the Association...

By his own admission, David Cameron is desperate to start taking an axe to public spending, promising, in his own words, an age of austerityif he gets the keys to Downing Street.

Pulling the plug on vital public services that millions of people rely on would, in my view, damage our social fabric. It seems a bit rich trying to get elected by telling us (wrongly!) that Britain is Broken, and at the same time planning to slash public services.

Cameron's axe would also put the fragile economic recovery of our nation at risk as we come out of the worst world downturn in half a century.

Sadly, 155 families in Lincolnshire are getting an early taste of what life under a Conservative Government would be like for millions.

Same Old Nasty Tories eh?

Sad loss of a good friend...

Shocked and saddened to hear of the sudden and unexpected death of my friend John Hurst, a former colleague on Lincolnshire County Council - and a true champion of Grantham Hospital.

A thoughtful, highly intelligent man, life-long socialist with a wicked bone-dry sense of humour, John's cerebral contributions in county council debates were always top quality.

A sad loss and sincere condolences to his widow Fereshteh.

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...

Farmers to blame for worse pollution in Lincs than London...?

Wonder how our county council will respond to this damning indictment of farming in Lincolnshire.

Many of the controlling group of councillors are themselves farmers of course - including the Conservative Leader Martin Hill, so I'll be watching with fascination...

Private Eye focus on Lincs Leader's expense claims...

Today's Private Eye has revelations about the expenses claimed by Tory Leader of Lincolnshire County Council who apparently booked into the Intercontinental Hotel on London's Park Lane and expected us us council taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Looking forward to Councillor Martin Hill's explanation, as he made his name when in Opposition as a rottweiller who went through the Council's accounts with a fine toothcomb looking for half a chance to attack any spending by the then Labour-LibDem administration as 'extravagant'.

Wonder what the Taxpayers Alliance would say about his stay at the Intercontinental?

No doubt the Private Eye story is embarrassing for Cllr Hill, particuylarly if the local media actually follow it up.

Of course, it's not exactly in the same league as Martin's Conservative predessessor 'Honest' Jim Speechley, who you may recall, went to prison convicted of abuse of public office...

PS - sorry, no link to the Private Eye story as don't put their articles online...

You'll have to buy one!

Lincolnshire show how the Tories would run the country...

What was David Cameron's side-kick wee Georgie Osborne thinking of when he said a future Conservative government could learn lessons from Tory councils like Lincolnshire...?

Was it Lincolnshire Tories record of running the only education authority in the country to spend millions of public money to send selected children to public school - by top-slicing the budget of every state school in the county...?

Or was it the cavalier way Lincolnshire Tories trebled home care charges for some of Lincolnshire's most vulnerable people - from £40 to an staggering £120 a week in one hike - (a saga on which I posted on HERE and HERE...?

Maybe it was the back-of-a-fag-packet scheme to close all infant schools that showed what Lincolnshire Conservatives really feel about 'choice' despite their rhetoric...?

Surely wee Georgie wasn't thinking about the way Lincolnshire Tories' forced through the biggest council tax demand for policing in the county - an eye-watering 78.9 per cent that had to be capped by the Labour Government with a welcome rebate for every council tax payer...?

Ironically, wee Georgie was talking in his speech about value for money when he highlighted Lincolnshire as a flagship to follow...

Wonder if he realises that Lincolnshire Tories insisted on hiking up council tax bills this year - voting down Labour's sensible plan for a council tax freeze...(despite his promise that Conservatives would deliver a freeze on council tax).

No, wee-Georgie was talking about Lincolnshire's record on public-private partnerships. While I believe private firms might sometimes deliver a better job than local councils, in eight years as a county councillor in Lincolnshire, I was far from impressed with the way county services were run by private companies.

I believe the system wee Georgie was so impressed with was brought in by former Tory Leader of the county council, Jim Speechley...

Wee Georgie will remember Jim well...Speechley of course was sent to jail for corruption.

So now we know how the Tories would run the country if we were ever daft enough to give them a chance...

Same old Tories, or what...?

Care for elderly under threat again...?

The Tory council which trebled home care charges for some of the most vulnerable people in Lincolnshire are now considering cutting wardens at sheltered accommodation according to a report in this morning's Stamford Mercury.

Same old Tories, eh?

Tory's election was illegal...

A Conservative has been forced to resign from Lincolnshire County Council after just eight weeks after it was revealed her nomination broke election law.

Now a by-election is to be held in Boston.

And guess who's paying...?

Er, you and me!

Look who's a Twitter now...!

I have to chuckle: Lincolnshire County Council has finally joined the modern world of Twitter...

When I joined Twitter some months ago, the Stamford Mercury (one of the first local papers to join Twitter) ran an article allowing me to explain why, as a county councillor, I thought it was a useful way of communicating with electors.

A barrage of wry comments of derision - mainly from the dinosaurs on the Tory benches - was aimed my way, largely dismissing the very idea of Twitter. Many of the old-timers are of course fully signed up members of the Flat Earth Society who think that the internet is a passing phase that will never replace the quill pen!

I stopped being a county councillor a couple of months ago. But let me warmly welcome Lincolnshire County Council to the 21st Century...!

PS: Good to see that our Conservative-run County Council has joined Twitter despite David Cameron's attempt at being 'cool' by swearing about it on a radio programme aimed at a younger audience the other day when he was asked if he was a twitter...

Whistle-blower Bowles in Lincs hospitals row...

The whistle-blower whose actions led to the Tory Leader of Lincolnshire County Council being jailed for abuse of office is back in the news.

David Bowles was Chief Exec at County Hall but was forced out by the Tories - at huge public expense after he called in the police to expose the criminality of Jim Speechley.

I'm on record as saying his reward should have been a medal - not the sack. I was a member of the "Appointments Committee" and saw first-hand the disgraceful way he was hounded out of office.

It was an absolute disgrace which piled further shame on Lincolnshire after Speechley went to jail and eventually saw Speechley's Conservative successor - Ian Croft from Bourne - banned from holding office.

I wasn't surprised when Bowles was snapped up to run Lincolnshire Hospitals - which he went on to lead into a financial surplus.

But now he's 'between jobs' again. And there's a dispute over whether he resigned or was suspended by the United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust.

What 'Mr Ten Per Cent' would mean in Lincolnshire...

Local Tories endlessly try to kid us that the Labour Government doesn't give Lincolnshire enough money for services like police, schools, health and social services.

Of course, they never mention the year-on-year-on-year real cuts we suffered under the last Conservative Government.

And they won't tell you the truth that in contrast to the Thatcher-Major era, in every year of the Labour Government, Lincolnshire County Council has received an inflation busting rise in grant for local services. In the past two years alone, we have received a 15 per cent increase in grant from Whitehall. That's fifteen per cent.

In addition, Labour has given Lincolnshire £30 million to set up and run 36 SureStart childrens centres helping to give youngsters the best possible start in life - including one right here in the Deepings which my daughter Claire and baby Jack attended just this afternoon.

(When I alluded to this figure in the council chamber, a Tory 'grandee' attempted to correct me by saying: 'surely Councillor Dilks, you mean £30 million for the whole country, not just for Lincolnshire...' Er, no, check it out: £30 million just for Lincolnshire!

And while we'd all like more of course, the fact is that millions of pounds more have flowed into our county over the past decade to improve local services - which ironically, local Tories then take credit for.

Despite the Tory hype, Home Office funding for policing in Lincolnshire has gone up from under £50 million a year under the Tories to over £70 million this year.

So what would a change of Government mean for Lincolnshire...?

Thanks to David Cameron's health spokesman Andrew Lansley letting the cat out of the bag yesterday, we now know that if the Tories were ever in charge again, we'd return to eye-watering cuts in vital public services.

We already knew that Cameron's cuts already revealed would mean one in five SureStarts would have to close and Labour's plan to rebuild every Lincolnshire secondary school would have to be scrapped.

But the 10-per-cent across the board cuts that Mr Lansley has now disclosed would mean at least 180 fewer police in Lincolnshire.

That's just the start of it.

I'm not an economist, but it seems right to me that Labour are continuing to invest in public services through difficult times. It seems sensible that taking action now to invest in services - and jobs - and keep people in their homes, will help our country recover quicker and come out of the world downturn stronger. History surely tells us that Tory cuts now would make the recession deeper and last longer.

The fact that Mr Ten Per Cent Cameron's top priority for the economy is tax cuts for a few millionaires tells me all I need to know: Mr Cameron is a slick salesman, but behind the gloss and spin, they're not on the side of ordinary people like me.

But then, they never have been!

Stamford man to represent DSJ...

Congrats to Conservative candidate Mike Exton, who has been elected as our new county councillor for Deeping St James.

I'm not sure whether I'm more disappointed to be replaced by a Conservative, or by someone who doesn't even live in our community.

Still, I wish him well and hope that he puts Deeping St James first, as I have tried to do for the past eight years.

A bit difficult as he lives in Stamford, is a district councillor for Market Deeping and now county councillor for Deeping St James...

But since I didn't stand, I can't complain at the result!

Wonder if I should send Mike a map of how to get to DSJ...?

Full result for the Deeping St James Division:

EXTON, Mike (Conservative) 846

HAMMERSLEY, Philip Edward (Liberal Democrat) 596

BOSSINGHAM, Michael Edward (Green Party) 464

UPDATE: Stamford Mercury has more results from our part of Lincolnshire.

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!

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.

Tourism in Lincoln relegated to 2nd Division...?

I was first to welcome moves by the Tory Leader of Lincolnshire County Council to limit potential damage by shutting down both tourism centres serving historic Lincoln.

Martin Hill knows that the decision by his colleagues who run Lincoln City Council to save a few bob could cost the local economy dear in the long run.

He is putting on a brave face by hoping local businesses devoting a corner of their shop to promote Lincoln's attractions will offer a '21st Century' solution...

...But while no doubt better than nothing, will Martin's alternative plan relegate historic Lincoln to the second division of UK destinations, as suggested by one business leader in tonight's Echo?

I hope not...