There is a pattern emerging in Shropshire that is now too obvious to ignore.
Senior officers design risk.
Senior officers depart.
Residents are handed the invoice — repackaged as “local choice”.
Last week, Miranda Garrard, Head of Legal and Democratic Services at Shropshire Council, became the fourth very senior officer to leave suddenly. Her farewell statement spoke warmly of “pastures new”, “brilliant colleagues”, and “the fascinating challenges facing local government”. err so that’s why she left?
What it did not mention was timing.
She leaves alongside the former Chief Executive Andy Begley, the former S151 officer James Walton, and Director of Place Mark Barrow — at precisely the moment Shropshire Council admits it faces a £50 million funding gap, worsening structural deficits, and an expectation that council tax will rise year after year simply to stand still.
When legal, finance and executive leadership leave together, this is not career progression.
It is evacuation.
DEVOLUTION, OR HOW TO MOVE THE PROBLEM WITHOUT OWNING IT
With Shropshire Council’s finances in visible distress, attention has turned to “devolution”.
On paper, it sounds wholesome.
In practice, Oswestry Town Council has been asked to absorb a £365,000 annual service burden, funded by the highest precept rise in Shropshire.
Residents now pay twice — once to Shropshire Council, and again to Oswestry Town Council — for services they already funded.
This is not empowerment.
It is double taxation by stealth.
THE DUAL-HAT PROBLEM
This is where abstraction ends.
A group of Liberal Democrat councillors sit on both Shropshire Council and Oswestry Town Council, voting on the creation of financial pressure at county level and the imposition of higher taxation at town level.
These include:
James Owen – Liberal Democrat
Shropshire Council Portfolio Holder for Housing and Leisure
Oswestry Town Councillor
Mark Owen – Liberal Democrat
Shropshire Council Cabinet Member
Oswestry Town Councillor
Wendy Owen – Liberal Democrat
Shropshire Council Councillor
Oswestry Town Councillor
Rosie Radford – Liberal Democrat
Shropshire Council Councillor
Oswestry Town Councillor
Duncan Borrowman – Liberal Democrat
Shropshire Council Councillor
Oswestry Town Councill
David Walker – Liberal Democrat
Shropshire Council Portfolio Holder for Planning
Oswestry Town Councillor
These councillors collectively supported the devolution of services at county level and the precept increase at town level.
Individual roll-call votes are not published.
That absence of transparency is not accidental — it is convenient. Conflict of interest? Surely not.
FOLLOW THE PAPER, NOT THE PROMISES
The Cabinet Forward Plan shows that devolution was not an emergency response. It was scheduled, planned, and normalised months in advance.
No binding consultation.
No guaranteed funding.
No long-term risk modelling presented to residents.
THE QUESTION THEY REFUSE TO ANSWER
What happens when Oswestry Town Council cannot afford these services either?
When costs rise.
When contractor prices increase.
When the precept ceiling is reached.
Do services collapse?
Does the precept rise again?
Or are residents told once more that responsibility requires sacrifice?
The officers who built this system have left.
The councillors remain.
The bill has arrived. This is not devolution.
It is abandonment — carefully wrapped and quietly invoiced.
I have heard a whisper that Shropshire Council’s Planning Department is the subject of a police investigation – more on that as the investigation develops.
But remember – You heard it here first.
The Alternative Council 
The Oswestry Town Council situation looks the same as the Shrewsbury Town Council where the costs of service has been transferred to the local town council from the County Council.
When a consultation went out I suggested that the overall cost should remain the same – let’s see what happens when the next council tax demand is received!!
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