About Wrinehill

  I recently received  a notice from the Clerk of Betley Parish Council (see below) but, 'Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the sons of the uncircumcised triumph. with an apology to (2 Samuel v19). I would like to thank everyone who gave support over the past three years, much appreciated, and to say that it was a pleasure and privilege to have been a Councillor for WrinehilI.  Given the set up of the Parish Council and the state of play it was impossible to represent you in the way that I would have wished or that Wrinehill deserved.  The odds of  12 - 1 was not conducive to  turning things around to ensure fair play, equitable distribution of resources, accountability and transparency.   Under the grimmest of  circumstances that I have ever encountered, I did what I could.  I had every intention and determination to remain until 2026 until fate interve...

  In September 2024 Betley Parish Council considered several policies which it did not have but should have and updated the few that it did.  Councillors were invited to look at these policies and submit any amendments/changes/ improvements etc.  Only one Councillor did so and few if any of those recommendations (all 20 pages) were considered or accepted.  Local Councils had produced a template, which some councils amended to meet their particular needs.   Betley Parish Council has included in this a clause wishing to regulate not only its own social media but to include all other and private social media platforms.  This could mean giving itself the power to close down platforms with which it might not agree or did not like.  Although the PC was cautioned with regard to the impact of this it went ahead anyway, ignoring perhaps the view of  Bruce Coville  who informed that 'w ithholding information is the essence of tyranny, control of ...

  After three years of being a parish councillor, I had good reason to revisit George Orwell.   Not his fiction but his philosophy which had been created not by sitting around drinking and pontificating in a local pub (although he might have done on occasion when he had the money to spare) but by hard graft at the grass roots level of rubbing shoulders with the poor and the dispossessed, by working in the police force and as a tutor and civil servant, and being intelligent and self aware enough to perceive accurately in order to assess what was going on around him.    His philosophy became enshrined in his most well known books particularly Animal Farm and 1984 , which demonstrated that Totalitarianism existed in all political persuasions seeking ultimate control and power over its populations, usually to assuage and fulfil self-interested egos. So what had he learned from his wide experiences and what was he seeking to convey in his novels which soon captured...

  Already the Betley Parish Accounts for 2025-2026 are being discussed and the precept drawn up.   At the end of the financial year 2023-24 the Betley Parish Council received an external audit, which was published, eventually, in November 2024.   The report made interesting reading in that the External Auditor found ‘significant weaknesses within the Parish Council system’ and that ‘the Council should ensure that the Annual Governance and Accountability Return (AGAR) form in 2024-25 is prepared in accordance with proper practices’.   This would support the view of the only Councillor who had frequently queried the accounts and the way in which the AGAR Form had been completed by the Parish Council over the last two years, and more latterly, the Audit and Accounts Committee. Clearly the ‘explanation’ Minuted after the November 2024 Parish Council meeting had not been accepted by the External Auditor ( (see November 2024 Minutes, Minute  14 (a)- (d))....

  Several individuals have attempted to close this blog since it provides an often alternative view to that expressed by the Parish Council.  This has been played out at length in  Parish Council Minutes although as a private blog, it is no business of the Parish Council. A recent parish council governance document - the Social Media Policy - accepted despite queries about the validity of some of it intentions attempts to enable the Parish Council to regulate all social media ,not just its own.  This would appear to be a dangerous prerogative by a council since it seems to attempt to censor anything of which it would not approve. It also seems to confuse in a very dangerous way freedom of information with freedom from  information. Freedom from information is not the intention of the Freedom of Information Act although there are some who would try to interpret it in this very dangerous way, paving the slope downwards and backwards to a medieval oligarchy and ...

  Last week I tuned in to a Staffordshire County Council Meeting of Council. The formation of Super Councils was being discussed again (and after a ten year plus gap) and what the options being forwarded might be for Staffordshire. At the moment Staffordshire is a two tier authority - County and Borough Council, supposedly working seamlessly together. The leader of Newcastle Borough council left the meeting before is began. It was clear that Staffordshire County favoured the status quo - ie no change. The tension at the beginning of this meeting was palpable. Parish councils - the lowest tier of governance - but governance nonetheless - were not mentioned in the Government Report. Perhaps there was a justifiable reason for this. The options for change are: to join with Stoke-on-Trent, to join with Staffordshire Moorlands and one or two others such as Telford and the Wrekin in order to make up the required numbers to become a super council. However, and hopefully, it might tak...