Malcolm MacIntyre Read writes ………
Considering Shropshire Council’s legal theft of £511,000 in 2015/16 government grant meant for local councils across the county, Bridgnorth Cllr. Ron Whittle’s plea for the people of Shropshire to “wake up and demand action now” is even more urgent.
The theft is possible because central government did not ring-fence the grant, so that it had to be passed on, and Shropshire Council’s complacency, illustrated by SC’s Cabinet member for “resources, finance and support(sic)”, Cllr. Mike Owen’s claim that “… most councils would see a loss of less than £500”.
Forgetting that even £500 is a fair bit for local councils facing continual cut backs, it is curiously minuscule against the losses quoted by the Bridgnorth Journal, from a mere £9,000 for Highley up to £44,857 for Bridgnorth. Whether the latter includes BTC’s current overspend for 2014/15 of over £30,000 is not stated.
But Cllr. Whittle’s main concern is the high precepts being charged by so many of the local councils across Shropshire, averaging £111.34 for band D, apart from Shrewsbury at £39.89. That is against an average of £56.13 for 22 randomly selected towns across England. He asks that you lobby Councillors on their responsibilities and bombard the Clerks with demands for action.
Unfortunately common experience indicates that more and more Clerks now believe they are controllers rather than staff (which certainly IS illegal), with Councillors more diligent in internecine disputes than collective responsibilities. Some of them have become overnight “experts” in everything, based on the sole skill of being a ‘Councillor’.
Any accountability was removed under Eric Pickles and the introduction of the Localism Act 2011 which abolished Standard Boards because the Cons believe that the best people to call Councillors to account are… themselves! Unforeseen circumstances in spades and SC pocketing a nice little £511K. Time for us plebs to become revolting?
Malcolm MacINTYRE-READ
BAHons – FRSA – Churchill Fellow
