A difficult first year running 'broken' council

Within four months of taking charge of Shropshire Council, exactly a year ago, the new Liberal Democrat leadership team had declared a financial emergency.

All but essential spending was stopped in September to try and slow down an unfunded overspend, which was growing month by month.

It became clear that without a government bailout, the authority would have to effectively declare itself bankrupt and allow government commissioners to take control of its budget. It was an agonising wait for a decision.

The crisis was sobering, and a stark contrast to the smiles and cheers that echoed around the Shrewsbury Sports Village where the election count was held in May.

A year on from taking charge of the struggling authority and things have stabilised.

Emergency financial support from Westminster has been granted, and an unusually high council tax rise of 9% was approved for 2026-27, giving the council more money to spend on day-to-day services.

The Liberal Democrats claimed an external local government review, as well as an internal deep dive look into its finances, exposed the true extent of the mess it was in.

"I think we've laid the foundations for change," said deputy leader Alex Wagner.

"We inherited a situation which any independent observer, and many of my predecessors, would say was as bad as any council in the country – especially financially."

Wagner said the council had become much stricter at monitoring its expenditure and compiled more accurate accounts by changing the way it forecasted spending.

He also praised the administration for handing over services to a small number of town councils, such a street sweeping and litter picking, which had improved services and saved it - but not necessarily taxpayers - money.

The decision has not been popular with some residents who said it was unfair to pay twice, as the fee paid to town and parish councils, known as a precept, had risen by up to 98%.

Watching the crisis from the wings was a new and inexperienced Reform UK group, which won 16 seats on the unitary authority last year - a result that propelled the party from having no elected members on the council into being the official opposition.

Despite being new to the council, the group's leader, Dawn Husemann, said they had made a real impact in their first 12 months.

"The group has helped improve scrutiny, challenge stale thinking, and push both the current Liberal Democrat administration and the wider council towards a more honest conversation about waste, priorities and performance," she said.

"The message to residents is simple: Reform is not there to prop up a failing system, but to expose its weaknesses, argue for better answers and prove it is ready to govern. After just one year, that impact is already visible."

Husemann was complimentary of how the Liberal Democrat group had improved culture at the authority and introduced stronger scrutiny.

But she was critical of the speed at which savings had been found, claiming the current administration talked about financial stability, but appeared reluctant to grasp the scale of the action needed to deliver.

Despite "green shoots of progress" and new personnel in top non-political roles at the authority, Shropshire Council is still in a mess.

It will have to rely on government loans to meet day-to-day spending for years to come, putting hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt on the shoulders of future council taxpayers.

But leader Heather Kidd has promised to keep putting pressure on Westminster to award the authority more funding to pay for an ever-rising social care budget.

Until its "structural funding deficit" can be closed, the council cannot return to living within its means.

The Liberal Democrats' first anniversary in control of Shropshire Council has been slightly dampened by the "sacking" of long-serving councillor Andy Boddington.

The party claimed he had resigned over policy and conduct.

But the member for Ludlow North later told the BBC that he was sacked after a disagreement over the future of bus travel in the town.

He will now sit as an independent.

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