Now You See Them, Now You Don’t

Moral fibre is no longer optional. Courage is no longer negotiable. And silence is not neutrality—it’s complicity.

Introduction

If silence were a policy, Oswestry Town Council would be leading the nation in delivery. If avoidance were an Olympic sport, Shropshire Council would be bringing home the gold. And if cowardice could be bottled, Helen Morgan would have a national distribution deal.

Let’s be blunt: a 22-bed HMO stuffed into a defunct pub, a second one proposed at 23 Cross Street, a town choking on HMO overdevelopment — and the entire political class of Oswestry and Shropshire is doing their finest impression of a parish council meeting after budget cuts.

The New Route to Residency: Cancel the Hotels, Queue the HMOs

We’re told the government is closing the asylum hotels—”ending the scandal,” they claim, with all the fanfare of a Westminster press release and none of the substance. But where exactly are these individuals being moved to?

It seems the new itinerary goes something like this:
Just off the boat in Dover, past the token screening at the Home Office, and then straight into a repurposed guesthouse in Market Town Britain. The signage may have changed from The Bell Hotel to HMO Ltd, but the end result is the same—beds crammed in, neighbours ignored, and councils pretending it’s all part of a “housing strategy.”

And while ministers and councillors boast about cutting hotel bills, the cost is simply being shifted—from Whitehall’s budget to your street. Because what better way to solve a housing crisis than to quietly absorb it into residential neighbourhoods without so much as a public notice?

Call it what you like—dispersal, resettlement, community cohesion—but don’t call it transparent.
You might not see the lorries anymore, but the front doors are still revolving.

Now Appearing: The Disappearing Act – Live from Oswestry Town Hall!

Once upon a time, councillors campaigned on community values. Now they hide behind meeting agendas and hope no one notices.

Here in Oswestry, the trend is no longer speculative—it’s systemic. From Cross Street to the Smithfield Hotel, family homes and businesses, once part of the community fabric, are being hollowed out and rebadged as “multiple occupancy units”—a phrase that somehow sounds more palatable than “institutional dumping ground.” Planning applications speak in the dull drone of “change of use” and “internal reconfiguration,” but what they really mean is: beds, bunks, and big profits. And still, silence from the very councillors who claim to care about local infrastructure. Perhaps they’re too busy reviewing housing policy from a safe distance—say, somewhere between an Amazon return and a Vinted parcel collection.

From Chairman David Walker to the rest of the Town Council’s semi-silent ensemble — Cllrs Richard Elmitt, Care Johnson, , Lucy McKinney, Jay Moore, and Fiona Wilson – not a word, not a whimper, not even a pithy tweet.

James Owen, Mark Owen, Wendy Owen, Ruth Simmonds, Jonathan Upton et al. — All MIA.

And Cllr Duncan Kerr? Lest we forget.

Oh, and Cllr Duncan Kerr? Yes, is that the same Kerr who once waxed lyrical about “avoiding ghettoisation” through overuse of HMOs? Turns out he now prefers the tranquillity of strategic amnesia.

Strange, how the firebrand of 2022 became the church mouse of 2025.
Perhaps he’s locked in a planning cupboard somewhere. Or perhaps he’s just found it easier to oppose housing developments when they don’t involve his best buddies the Lib Dems, donors, or embarrassingly well-connected landlords. He must feel lonely as the only Green in the village

Shropshire Council: Where Accountability Goes to Die

And speaking of evasive brilliance: let’s have a round of silent applause for Cllr James Owen, the man responsible for “Housing and Leisure.” Nothing like blending the two, eh James? After all, what’s more leisurely than 22 strangers sharing a toilet?

Next, Cllr David Vasmer, nominally in charge of Highways and the Environment — though one suspects he’s more familiar with asphalt than asylum housing. Not a syllable uttered, not a concern raised.

Shropshire Council’s “leadership” seems to consist of observing fires from a safe distance while drafting a policy about the smoke. One hopes they will grow into the job – eventually.

Planning Officers: Nameless, Blameless, and Conveniently Unavailable

Behind the scenes are the ever-efficient planning officers, those mystical figures who apparently require neither accountability nor surnames.

No statements. No community engagement. No explanation as to why housing applications involving suspected Bounce Back Loans BBL-abusing property networks get handled with such soft hands.

Transparency? Not here. Public confidence? Not even in the building. They’d probably claim it’s a private matter if someone tried converting the council offices into a 40-bed hostel. Perhaps they’re waiting for the next turn of the revolving door into the private sector.

Out of Office, Out of Reach

One imagines Shropshire’s planning officers beavering away from the comfort of their conservatories, clad in leisurewear, toggling between Zoom, the DPD tracking app, and their latest Amazon return.

Responses to public queries? On hold — possibly buried beneath a pile of bubble wrap, discounted stationery, and a desperate attempt to locate last Friday’s development brief under a bag of cat litter and a Costa loyalty card.

After all, who has time for civic duty when there’s a “lightly used pressure washer” to flog and a faulty ring light to review?

Transparency now comes with a delivery window. Public accountability? Sorry, you’ll need to raise a ticket—just like their Amazon buyers do when the parcel goes missing.

Autoreply:

Thank you for your email. I’m currently working remotely in line with Council policy and will respond once I’ve successfully repackaged a novelty pasta maker and left it in the porch for DPD. Your planning enquiry is important to us and will be looked at as soon as I’ve cleared today’s Amazon returns and checked my ambient lighting settings on Teams. Thank you for your patience.

And What About Our MP?

Enter Helen Morgan, stage left, Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire — or is it South Silence?

When she’s not posing on doorsteps or issuing platitude-laden press releases about “strong communities,” she’s… well, missing. Vanished. On mute. Absent without irony.

We searched Hansard. We scoured social media. We waited for the soundbite. Nothing. Perhaps 22-bed migrant accommodation developments aren’t photogenic enough for Lib Dem messaging.

A Performance in Evasion – Sponsored by Voters Like You

Let’s not forget: the public has spoken. Loudly. Letters have been sent. Questions asked. Concerns raised. And in return?

Blank stares. Dodged emails. Muted microphones.

This isn’t governance — it’s ghosting on a civic scale.

And the real scandal? They think no one will remember. That silence is safer than honesty. That the public’s attention span is shorter than a planning notice taped to a lamp post in a gale.

Final Warning: Councillor Alert

This is the beginning, not the end.

We will name names. We will quote the silences. We will drag evasions into daylight with all the subtlety of a bulldozer through your inbox.

Tick-tock   Tick-tock

Councillors.

The electorate is watching. And the next ballot paper might just be your P45.

And lest our esteemed councillors forget, let this serve as your polite reminder:

Moral fibre is no longer optional. Courage is no longer negotiable. And silence is not neutrality—it’s complicity.

You ran for office. You asked for responsibility.

So, wear it—or be worn down by the scrutiny you now face.

And the silence from our elected representatives is deafening.

Almost as deafening as that from our intrepid local reporters.

Not exactly John Pilgers, are they?

And now for something new: