Omnipresence

Cowards of the County: They Broke It, You’re Paying

Localism, Lies – and the Great Parish Bill Shropshire Council has perfected a simple, cowardly trick: when something costs money, it stops paying for it and pushes the bill onto someone smaller. Then it smiles, calls it *localism*, and waits for parish councils to take the anger. This is not devolution, reform, or community empowerment.Continue reading “Cowards of the County: They Broke It, You’re Paying”

COWARDS OF THE COUNTY

How Shropshire’s Officers Lost the Plot, the Councillors Lost Their Nerve, and the Taxpayer Lost Everything Else There comes a point in every county’s slow slide into farce when you realise the people running the show are not merely incompetent — they’re proud of it. That point, in Shropshire, arrived some time between: 1. ShropshireContinue reading “COWARDS OF THE COUNTY”

WHY SCRAPPING THE PCC WON’T SAVE US

There comes a moment in every great British farce when you realise the people in charge are no longer even pretending to steer the ship — they’re simply rearranging the deckchairs and congratulating each other on their boldness. That moment arrived the second Westminster announced its latest stroke of governance genius: abolish the one electedContinue reading “WHY SCRAPPING THE PCC WON’T SAVE US”

THE INVISIBLE HAND THAT BUILDS SHROPSHIRE (AND IT ISN’T THE COUNCIL)

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 lessContinue reading “THE INVISIBLE HAND THAT BUILDS SHROPSHIRE (AND IT ISN’T THE COUNCIL)”

The Roundabout That Wasn’t Round

How Shrewsbury Reinvented the Wheel and Drove It Into a Wall Welcome to Shrewsbury, where we took a perfectly ordinary road junction, spent £4 million making it worse, and called it progress. Behold the Station Gyratory — a dazzling feat of civil regression so baffling, it could only have come from the bowels of aContinue reading “The Roundabout That Wasn’t Round”

CIL? WHAT CIL? JUST ANOTHER DAY IN TRANSPARENT SHROPSHIRE

The CIL Trick: When the Council Develops Homes and Quietly Misplaces Its Own Tax Bill There’s a special kind of magic in Shropshire Council’s housebuilding operation. The sort of magic in which houses appear, PR photos multiply, councillors beam… and then — poof! — the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) vanishes like a toddler’s biscuit. CILContinue reading “CIL? WHAT CIL? JUST ANOTHER DAY IN TRANSPARENT SHROPSHIRE”

THE £37 MILLION CIL QUESTION

THE GREAT SHROPSHIRE CIL SWINDLE (ALLEGEDLY, BUT YOU KNOW…) You’ve hopefully had a good chuckle during The Elephant in the Room series — the vanishing FOIs, the disappearing councillors, the council-owned companies that behave like Russian dolls with a drinking problem. But now, dear reader, the humour gives way to the hard questions. Because behindContinue reading “THE £37 MILLION CIL QUESTION”

THE HOUSING MACHINE THAT NOBODY ORDERED

How Homes England, the Councils, and Their Favourite Friends Built a System Only a Bureaucrat Could Love Opening: The Gloves Come Off Let’s begin with a confession: I used to think house building was simple. A bit of land, a few bricks, and a council officer who hasn’t mysteriously gone home at 3.45pm. But thatContinue reading “THE HOUSING MACHINE THAT NOBODY ORDERED”

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 ofContinue reading “Cornovii Part 3 – When the Paper Trail Starts to Sweat”

Cornovii: Behind Closed Doors

Transparency? Not under this council’s watch It began, as all grand civic delusions do, with a glossy brochure, a slogan, and a promise too good to question. Cornovii was to be Shropshire Council’s redemption — a home-building miracle that would prove local government could outwit the private sector. What it became instead was a textbookContinue reading “Cornovii: Behind Closed Doors”