School nativity thwarted by bungling bureaucrats 1

Fiona McEvoy Grassroots

There is little doubt that the staging of a nativity play is a stressful experience, and that the prospect of directing tens of small children to present one of the oldest stories of all time is a daunting one. Well, for the teachers at one school in Shropshire the annual experience has been made all the more traumatic, thanks to the meddling of their local council.

The Shropshire Star reports that Buildwas Primary School’s nativity play was stalled by red-tape, meaning that children at the school would be barred from performing without applying for a temporary event licence from Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council.

The school was loathe to disappoint their young pupils and consequently got the local paper involved, pointing out the lunacy of a rule that prevents children innocently performing a Christmas nativity to their local community in the usual tradition.

Lo-and-behold, with the eyes of the media on them the council are forced to admit a blunder and reveal that there isn’t, nor has there ever been, the need for schools to obtain a licence to perform a play at their local village hall.

The headteacher, Helen Whittaker, said of the whole farce, “You wouldn’t believe how much time has been wasted. I’m fed up with bureaucracy. My job as headteacher is difficult enough as it is.”

Just another case of bungling bureaucrats wasting time and effort, not to mention causing unnecessary stress for teachers, whilst local residents pay their salaries…

But then too many bureaucrats and too much confusing regulation is likely to cause such unnecessary mishaps, and for the taxpayers’ who support Shrewsbury & Atcham Council, the cost of this is about to go up.

A 3% rise in council tax has been agreed and now just needs the rubber stamp, with a 4.22% rise in the town itself, and although those within the council may argue that this is inline with inflation and is necessary to cover costs, when stories of incompetence like this surface the we can only assume that this is the tip of the iceberg and is indicative of further waste within the authority.

Council’s like Shrewsbury & Atcham should be giving local taxpayers a break by cutting down on such unnecessary bureaucracy and giving residents the tax cut they want and deserve.

Fiona McEvoy

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http://www.westmidlandsno.org.uk West Midlands NO!

Ah, but there is a reason why Shropshire County Council is putting their council tax up. They have just got the agreement of central government to abolish the five districts in Shropshire and form a county-wide unitary authority (excluding Telford & Wrekin). This is despite three districts holding referenda which resulted in no votes.
The key promise was that they would improve services and cut costs which would keep council tax down. By bumping council tax up now by more than they need they can make the necessary improvements to services before the unitary authority is set up, the benefits of which will start to show next year after the unitary authority has been set up and it will be easier to put in a lower percentage increase in council tax because it will be a percentage of a higher figure.
They might be green but they’re not cabbage looking.