There’s a strange rumour doing the rounds in Shropshire’s housing circles:
“Homes England has taken over Wrekin Housing Group.”
Now, this is only partly true — but the truth it reveals is far more interesting than the rumour itself.
Because once you dig beneath the polite announcements and the PR gloss, a picture emerges that’s less “local decision-making” and more “Who’s really running this place?”
And spoiler alert: it’s not the councillors.
THE PLAYERS (AND WHO ACTUALLY HOLDS THE WHIP)
Let’s start with the basics.
Wrekin Housing Group
Recently absorbed into Housing Plus Group — a quiet consolidation that was announced with all the enthusiasm of a man admitting he’s left his flies open. This has nothing to do with Homes England officially… but everything to do with it unofficially.
Housing Plus Group
A growing regional housing giant with one thing in common with every other major provider:
Homes England money is the oxygen in its bloodstream.
Cornovii Developments Ltd
Shropshire Council’s “arm’s-length” developer which, in reality, wouldn’t survive five minutes without:
- Council loans
- Homes England grant conditions
- And whatever is left after “commercial sensitivity” has been invoked for the ninth time in one meeting
STAR Housing
The final link in the chain — the bit that actually delivers homes while council officers are busy Googling how to redact an entire PDF.
Homes England
The national agency that smiles sweetly, hands you millions, then quietly attaches strings thick enough to moor a warship.
THE REAL POWER STRUCTURE (WHICH NOBODY AT SHROPSHIRE COUNCIL WANTS TO SAY OUT LOUD)
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Every one of these organisations — Wrekin, Housing Plus, STAR, Cornovii — is dependent on Homes England cash, conditions, and viability approvals.
You don’t get a shovel in the ground until Homes England says so.
You don’t finalise your financial model until Homes England approves it.
You don’t deliver your units until Homes England signs off on the outputs like a headteacher marking Year 9 coursework.
And yet…
Shropshire Council continues to maintain the charming fiction that Cornovii is an independent developer, that Shropshire is “in control”, and that everything is going entirely to plan.
Yes — and I’m the King of Siam.
WHERE WREKIN’S TAKEOVER FITS IN
Something has shifted in Shropshire’s housing chessboard — and Wrekin Housing Group didn’t so much evolve as get quietly folded into Housing Plus Group, a merger announced with the fanfare of a damp tea towel hitting lino.
But here’s the delicious part:
- Housing Plus survives on Homes England money.
- Wrekin survived on Homes England money.
- Cornovii survives on Homes England money.
It’s not a takeover — it’s a food chain, and Wrekin was simply the next animal to be digested while Shropshire Council stood on the riverbank applauding like tourists on a safari tour, blissfully unaware that they’re next on the menu.
Because in this ecosystem, nobody rises up — they’re absorbed.
And nobody leads — they cling on.
The only real apex predator?
Homes England.
WHY THIS IS THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
Because the Elephant series has always been about one thing:
The enormous, lumbering force shaping Shropshire’s housing — which nobody in authority has the courage to mention.
Cornovii depends on Homes England.
STAR depends on Homes England.
Wrekin depends on Homes England.
Housing Plus depends on Homes England.
And Shropshire Council?
They depend on everyone not noticing.
Let’s put it plainly:
Shropshire’s housing system isn’t being steered by councillors.
It isn’t being steered by Cornovii’s directors.
It isn’t being steered by the Cabinet Member for Housing.
It’s being steered by the only organisation in the chain with both money and authority:
The rest are simply passengers — some gripping the wheel, some pretending to drive, and some sitting in the back colouring in a risk register.
Homes England. (And they are going to be my next target)
And yet, for all this, Shropshire Council still refuses to answer my five overdue Freedom of Information requests.
Which raises just one final, unavoidable question: If Shropshire Council won’t even tell you who’s holding the reins…
is it because they don’t want you to know —
or because they’ve realised they’re no longer holding them themselves?
** STOP PRESS**
“Auditors flag major concerns about Shropshire Council’s financial sustainability and call for urgent action” – head line in Shropshire Star
I have just found out that the following was not written by the Chairman of the North Shropshire Chairman of Reform UK but by a Shropshire Councillor. My apologies for any confusion.
The stuff your writing on CiL and S106 is total bullshit and misleading people
Dear ****,
If the facts are ‘bullshit’, you may want to take that up with the CIL Regulations, the Planning Act 2008, the council’s own charging schedule, and about twelve years of audit reports.
I know it’s easier to dismiss scrutiny than engage with it, but sadly public policy doesn’t run on vibes.
If you have something more substantial than adjectives, I’m all ears.
The Alternative Council 