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.