It Didn’t Fail. It Worked — Just Not for You Shropshire Council was sold as progress in 2009 One council.One vision.One streamlined authority delivering better services for less money. What we got instead was something far more efficient: a system that concentrates power, disperses blame, and exports failure. Let’s stop pretending this is a glitchContinue reading “Abolish Shropshire Council”
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Cowards of the County: Planning by Fear, Silence by Design
This Is What Cowardice Looks Like There is a new planning doctrine stalking Shropshire. It is not written down. It has not been voted on. It comes with no consultation, no mandate, and no courage. It is called Pre‑Emptive Surrender. Its guiding principle is simple: if a developer might win an appeal, fold early, avoidContinue reading “Cowards of the County: Planning by Fear, Silence by Design”
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”
The Alternative Council 