Times are tough. There are more funding cuts to come. But Shropshire Council’s assumptions the worst will happen are not justified. They will damage the council’s role as a civic leader and its ability to act for the public good. Shropshire Council is beginning to consult on some tough financial decisions. Since 2009, the council’s […]
Month: November 2015
The Barrow Era (2): Shropshire Council’s company ip&e needs reinventing as an innovation hub
The resignation of Shropshire’s council leader Keith Barrow from the board of ip&e has left the future of the company in limbo. My view is that the council should drop its obsession with making a profit out of other public sector organisations. ip&e must become the council’s innovation hub. This company is very much a […]
The Barrow Era (1): Shropshire leader forced to resign from council company after conflict of interest scandal
It is a press release slipped out with minimum of publicity. Visitors to the Shropshire Council Newsroom website are only greeted with the headline: “Shropshire Council Standards Sub-Committee meeting – 20 November 2015.” That’s a headline designed for boredom. Which is surprising because the news website is run by Three Sixty Communications, a subsidiary of […]
House plan for Whitcliffe riding school for disabled dismissed as SAMDev policies bite
The owners of the riding school and camp site at North Farm applied for planning permission to build a “traditional style” house just above the Whitcliffe Common more than a year ago (14/03832/FUL). On Wednesday, planning officers threw the plans out saying that they conflict with SAMDev. The applicants have also failed to provide sufficient […]
Ludlow gas main farce as National Grid Gas says disruptive work it planned is unnecessary
It was an urgent job, we were told last December. Town centre gas pipes are old and are becoming dangerous. So urgent, the work would have to commence in April. When National Grid Gas missed that date, it announced that it would dig up King Street and High Street in July – a decision that […]