Or: how Shropshire Council managed to bankrupt public confidence before it quite finished bankrupting itself There is a point in every public scandal where the official language collapses under the sheer weight of its own dishonesty. We are well past that point in Shropshire. The question is no longer whether councils are under pressure. TheyContinue reading “WHY?”
Tag Archives: housing
Cornovii and the Comfort Blanket Committee
Cornovii Developments Ltd is Shropshire Council’s wholly owned housing company, set up in 2019 amid talk of housebuilding, quality control and financial return. It was presented as a bold instrument of delivery and a sensible bit of municipal enterprise. It has since acquired the more familiar local-government aroma of opacity, mission drift and soothing quarterlyContinue reading “Cornovii and the Comfort Blanket Committee”
Planning for Profit
Who Shropshire’s Housebuilding Boom Is Really For There is something almost touching about the way large housing developments are sold to the public in Shropshire. A field is selected. A map appears. A developer starts speaking in that warm, managerial tone about “meeting need”. Councillors murmur about “balance”. Officers reach for policy references and beginContinue reading “Planning for Profit”
Cornovii: The Supervisors, the Directors, and the Question That Will Not Go Away
At yesterday’s Shropshire Council meeting, a question from a member of the public, Andrew Sceats cut through several years of carefully managed explanation surrounding Cornovii Developments Ltd. Mr Sceats asked why many residents had been left with the impression that Shropshire Council would receive financial returns from Cornovii not only through land sales, but alsoContinue reading “Cornovii: The Supervisors, the Directors, and the Question That Will Not Go Away”
The Elephant Is Still in the Room
How Decisions You Never Saw Became Bills You Cannot Avoid This is not an insider discussion. It is not a conversation for those already steeped in council papers and committee minutes. This is about understanding how decisions made quietly over years eventually arrive as very visible costs for residents. What follows is not theory. ItContinue reading “The Elephant Is Still in the Room”
Cornovii: The Risk Nobody Can Quite Find
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”
Transparency at the Local Council
Now With Added Devolution, Fewer Services, and Even Less Memory Local councils are, we are endlessly assured, champions of transparency. This is said often, confidently, and usually just after something significant has happened without anyone quite noticing. Transparency, in the modern council sense, does not mean visibility. That would invite questions. Instead, it means thatContinue reading “Transparency at the Local Council”
Shropshire Council’s Financial Strategy: How to Look Solvent While Running Out of Road
The Calm Voice at the Edge of the Cliff There is a particular tone councils adopt when the numbers stop adding up. It is not panic.It is not honesty.It is reassurance. Shropshire Council’s Financial Strategy for 2026–31 is written in that tone. Calm. Managerial. Responsible. The kind of document that wants you to feel thatContinue reading “Shropshire Council’s Financial Strategy: How to Look Solvent While Running Out of Road”
Angry?
Then meet the people who thought running a property development company was just another council hobby Before we go any further, let’s get one thing straight. Shropshire Council is currently exposed to Cornovii to the tune of around £45 million of public money.That is not a forecast.It is not a worst-case scenario.It is not aContinue reading “Angry?”
Cowards of the County: Snouts in the Trough
Austerity for residents. Certainty for councillors That is not a talking point — it is the evidence. What follows names those who are paid, recalls the precedent they have chosen to ignore, and records the silence that now defines leadership in Shropshire. Then vs Now: A Matter of Choice Shropshire Council became a unitary authorityContinue reading “Cowards of the County: Snouts in the Trough”