Author Archives: Omnipresence

When Everyone Was Responsible, but Nobody Appeared to Be Accountable Chapter 3 ended at the boardroom door. Inside sat the people and machinery supposedly designed to prevent an ambitious public enterprise from becoming an expensive surprise: statutory officers, committees, auditors, risk registers, performance dashboards and enough assurance language to upholster the Council chamber. The dashboardContinue reading “Chapter 4: Governance Drift”

Three Thousand Homes, £69 Million and a Very Flexible Definition of Progress Chapter 2 ended with Shropshire Council placing a hard hat over its business suit and creating Cornovii. The authority had already learned from ip&e that forming a company did not create a market, a profit or competent controls. The warning was recorded. TheContinue reading “Chapter 3: The Cornovii Experiment”

When Running the Council Was No Longer Ambitious Enough Chapter 1 examined the promise: one council, lower costs, clearer accountability and millions saved. It also found the transition costs, inherited balances and highly paid departures that the banner neglected to mention. Chapter 2 begins when the easy savings had been taken and the hard questionContinue reading “Chapter 2: Commercial Ambition”

Why We Begin in 2008 This story begins in 2008, not 2009, because Shropshire Council did not simply appear one morning, fully formed, efficient and clutching a spreadsheet of savings. The groundwork had already been laid. The arguments had been prepared, the financial claims polished, and the public was being encouraged to believe that abolishingContinue reading “Chapter 1: The Promise”

NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION How Shropshire Council Built a Best Value NoticeFrom the Promise of Unitary Government to Government Intervention (2009–2026) A Different Beginning Sometimes the beginning of a story is not where you first think it is. When the Government issued Shropshire Council with a Best Value Notice in July 2026, most people naturally lookedContinue reading “THE ALTERNATIVE COUNCIL INVESTIGATES”

No consolidation calculation, no proper joint venture appraisal and no obstacle to Cabinet approving the officer plan Shropshire Council’s Cabinet has approved urgent steps towards selling Shirehall after its Finance Portfolio Holder admitted that the Council had not calculated the central financial alternative. Development surveyor Jonathan Owen asked a question so basic that it shouldContinue reading “Shirehall: Roger Evans Voted Without the Figures”

How Oswestry Town Council turned acknowledged conflicts of interest into permission slips There are currently sixteen seats on Oswestry Town Council. Seven of those seats are occupied by councillors who also sit on Shropshire Council. That is not twin-hatting. That is nearly half the room arriving with a spare council stitched into the lining. ThisContinue reading “Seven Conflicts, Seven Dispensations, No Problem”

Mile Bank: The Slow Theft of Public Confidence How public trust disappears, not in one grand scandal, but ten pounds at a time. People often ask me whether the establishment is corrupt. It is a fair question, but it is also the wrong place to start, because the word “corrupt” immediately sends public bodies divingContinue reading “Mile Bank: The Slow Theft of Public Confidence”

How Shropshire Council moved from demolition first to sale first, while evidence waits outside the room Shropshire Council appears to have found its latest solution to the Shirehall problem. Not evidence. Not imagination. Not a proper test of value. Just sell it. Sell it cold. Sell it as it stands. Sell it without planning. SellContinue reading “Shirehall: Panic, Paperwork and the Price of Incompetence”