Category Archives: Uncategorized

Three projects, 27 incidents and a Council increasingly being asked to explain itself The Alternative Council is built around three simple principles: Scrutiny, Transparency and Accountability. Scrutiny means decisions should be challenged before they are made, not dissected after the damage is done. Transparency means the public should not have to dig, chase, appeal andContinue reading “We So Don’t Need This!!!!”

THEY KNEW THE LAND WAS CONTAMINATED. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? The asbestos was known. The houses kept coming.Then the numbers changed, the layout moved and retail suddenly made everything “more viable”.   By now, the argument over whether Mile End had a contamination problem is over. It did. By March 2022, Cornovii Developments Ltd had aContinue reading “MILE END PART 4:”

WHEN “UNACCEPTABLE RISK TO HUMAN HEALTH” STILL MEANS “RECOMMEND APPROVAL” Cornovii knew asbestos remediation was required. It kept pursuing housing. Then Shropshire Council found itself in the wonderfully reassuring position of considering a planning application from its own development company. Part Three: the contamination was documented; the questions about judgement and money remain. Parts OneContinue reading “MILE END PART THREE”

Part Two: Public land, private answers, and the rather awkward question of what all this has cost. Part One asked what was being decided behind the closed door. Part Two follows the paper trail beneath Mile End. In Part One, “Oswestry for Sale: Trust Us, We’re Shropshire Council”, we asked why Cabinet sent the publicContinue reading “MILE END: THE ASBESTOS ISN’T SECRET.THE MONEY IS.”

Four Secret Recommendations, One Public Asset, and Not a Straight Answer in Sight On 5 August, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet held a special meeting. The public was removed. The press was removed. The doors were shut. Behind those doors sat a report on the disposal of an important piece of publicly owned land at the OswestryContinue reading “Oswestry for Sale: Trust Us, We’re Shropshire Council”

Time is money. Fortunately, the reception furniture was free. Tanya Miles, Chief Executive: presenting a calm and welcoming image while the council celebrates the safe relocation of a reception desk. There are moments when satire becomes redundant because the institution concerned has decided to write the material itself. Shropshire Council’s latest Staff Weekly Update isContinue reading “Shropshire Council Moves a Desk and Declares Victory”

No boats required. Just local homes, Luxembourg money, government contracts and a council that thoughtfully left the gate open. The invasion did not land on a beach. It completed on a semi in Oswestry. The bricks stayed in Shropshire; the money trail learned to speak fluent Luxembourg. One minute an ordinary three-bedroom house is beingContinue reading “The Immigration Invasion from the Inside”

When Whitehall Stopped Accepting Assurances and Put Them in Writing Chapter 6 ended with Shropshire Council changing the people on the bridge while Whitehall studied the voyage. On 15 July 2026, Whitehall replied. A three-page letter arrived from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It was addressed to Tanya Miles, the Council’s chiefContinue reading “Chapter 7: Government Intervention”

When the Bills Arrived and the Nameplates Began Moving The Council changed the politicians, the officers, the structure and the nameplates.The taxpayer was still left holding the invoice. Chapter 5 ended with Shropshire Council’s financial machinery printing an invoice for the taxpayer. Chapter 6 asks who was still standing beside the machine when it arrived.Continue reading “Chapter 6: The Leadership Exodus”

How Failed Savings Were Recycled, Reserves Were Drained and the Reckoning Was Sent to the Taxpayer Chapter 4 ended with the warning lights blazing and the brakes missing. Chapter 5 follows the skid marks. They lead through budgets approved before savings existed, failed targets carried forward, reserves drained and borrowing used when there was nothingContinue reading “Chapter 5: The Money Trail”