Cornovii Part 3 – When the Paper Trail Starts to Sweat

There comes a moment in every local local government saga when the spreadsheets begin to twitch, the meeting minutes start to shift uncomfortably in their folders, and the once-confident PowerPoint warriors develop an unexpected fondness for the phrase “commercially sensitive.”

For Cornovii, that moment is now

Because while Shropshire Council continues its noble tradition of answering Freedom of Information requests with the speed and enthusiasm of a sloth on annual leave, Grant Thornton and West Mercia Police have both — to their credit — acknowledged receipt of something far more awkward: evidence.

Evidence of loans, evidence of asset transfers, evidence of governance gymnastics, and evidence of a system so overlapped, over-shared, and under-scrutinised that it makes a plate of spaghetti look structurally robust.

Welcome to Part 3

The Strange Case of the £69 Million Boomerang

Public money is supposed to go out to deliver public services.

Cornovii invented a new approach: send it out, bring it back in, shuffle it sideways, then rent it to yourself.

And when housing didn’t sell?

No need for panic — just create a second company, move the houses to the sibling firm, and call it “strategic portfolio diversification.”

Economists call this circularity. Ask Rachel from accounts.

The rest of us call it a warning sign.

Conflicts of Interest? Nothing to See Here, Obviously

There are many ways to run a housing company.

Cornovii chose the one where the same senior officer:

– Approves the build

– Approves the transfer

– Approves the valuation

– Approves the acquisition

– Oversees the housing association

– And (for variety) sits on the boards overseeing themselves

It’s less arm’s-length governance and more a warm embrace between roles that should never even shake hands.

When even the company’s directors start resigning in formation, it’s rarely because everything is ticking along beautifully.

Asset Transfers: When Public, Private and ‘Who Knows?’ Collide

Public land moved into Cornovii.

Cornovii homes moved into Cornovii Investments.

STAR Housing staff partly moved into Cornovii.

Risk moved quietly into Shropshire’s group accounts.

And transparency?

Not moved at all.

Ten homes from Ifton Heath vanished from one balance sheet and re-appeared on another, escaping the council’s security charge along the way.

You can almost hear the Section 151 Officer sobbing into his calculator.

FOIs: The Dog That Didn’t Bark

Five FOIs.

Five deadlines blown.

Five clocks now ticking loudly in the background.

These aren’t trivial requests.

They are the exact documents that would demonstrate:

– Whether valuations were independent

– Whether loans were properly authorised

– Whether asset transfers were lawful

– Whether officers disclosed conflicts

– Whether the public were misled

In other words: the documents a criminal or forensic investigation depends upon.

Their absence is becoming almost as informative as their contents.

Auditors and Police Enter the Scene

The house of cards hasn’t fallen — yet — but someone has just opened a window.

For the first time in this saga, the adults have arrived.

Grant Thornton (the Auditor) now holds a briefing pack that maps every red flag from 2018 to 2025.

West Mercia Police now holds a parallel version, with full analysis of potential offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and Misconduct in Public Office.

This is the point where spreadsheets cannot hide, exempt session minutes grow nervous, and the phrase “appropriate valuation methodology” starts looking for a solicitor.

Shropshire Council: The Elephant is Now Fully in View

Two months ago, Cornovii was “commercial.”

One month ago, it was “strategic.”

Last week, it was “under review.”

This week?

It is a material risk to the Council’s solvency and a potential subject of external investigation.

When a housing company becomes a balance-sheet liability and a governance scandal simultaneously, the question is no longer “What went wrong?”

It is “Who signed what, when, and why?”

And Finally: The Public Deserves Answers

Part 3 closes on the same point where this story began:

Shropshire residents deserve transparency, honesty, and competence in return for their council tax.

What they have instead is:

– £69 million in loans

– Houses shifted like scenery in a pantomime

– Resignations without explanation

– Meetings held under exemption

– FOI silence

– And oversight so thin it could be used to trace patterns on a lightbox

But now, for the first time, there is movement.

The evidence has left Shropshire Council’s walls and entered the inboxes of auditors and police.

And once that happens, silence is no longer a strategy. It becomes part of the evidence.