Every council has meetings.Some have strategies.Some have visions.A few even have plans. What they are supposed to have, particularly when tens of millions of pounds of public borrowing are involved, is a clear understanding of risk. Recently, a Freedom of Information request asked Shropshire Council to produce exactly that: the documentation showing its financial exposureContinue reading “Cornovii: The Risk Nobody Can Quite Find”
Tag Archives: environment
WHEN THE ARCHITECTS LEAVE AND THE BILL IS SENT TO OSWESTRY
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 spokeContinue reading “WHEN THE ARCHITECTS LEAVE AND THE BILL IS SENT TO OSWESTRY”
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”
The £56 Express: You Pay, They Play
Bins, Bags, and Brass Necks Once upon a time, in the rolling hills of Shropshire, garden waste was collected for free. Grass clippings, hedge trimmings, and the odd forlorn courgette plant went off without fuss. Then, in a stroke of genius that only local government could dream up, residents were told: *“That’ll be £56, please.Continue reading “The £56 Express: You Pay, They Play”
Lions Led by Donkeys in Shropshire
Article 4: The Safety Catch They Refuse to Pull Shropshire residents dared to believe their Council might actually protect them. They asked, quite reasonably: “Please, use an Article 4 Direction to stop our town being carved into overcrowded HMOs.” Article 4, for the uninitiated, is dead simple: it takes away the automatic right for landlordsContinue reading “Lions Led by Donkeys in Shropshire”
Snouts First, Public Last
When Pain Was Shared, Not Shelved In 2011, Council Leader Keith Barrow stood at the despatch box and told Shropshire councillors that “there is going to be pain and we should all take our share of it.” He promptly sliced councillors’ allowances by 5%, cut mileage rates, and asked officers to consider reducing the totalContinue reading “Snouts First, Public Last”
From Market Town to Migrant Dump: The Great Oswestry Betrayal
Welcome to Oswestry, once a proud market town — now the showroom floor for Britain’s finest scams, deceptively registered developers, and councillors so neutral they could be used in a pH test. This isn’t satire. It’s Shropshire Council and Oswestry Town Council in action — or more accurately, inaction. And like all modern policy disasters,Continue reading “From Market Town to Migrant Dump: The Great Oswestry Betrayal”
We’re Net Zero and Net Broke – But Morally Radiant
“This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of both.”— Aneurin Bevan, Labour MP and founding father of the NHS Ah, Bevan. A man who could spot a political farce when he saw one. Little did he know that decades later, his homeland –Continue reading “We’re Net Zero and Net Broke – But Morally Radiant”
The Alternative Council 