Wyre Forest Reform UK

Well done Nik and Donna. More Worcestershire Reform Cllrs and Branch chairs lending a hand.

Worcestershire Local Government Reorganisation: What Happens Next? For months, the debate around Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) in Worcestershire has focused on two competing visions.

Well done Phil - our deputy chair doing his bit👏🏻👏🏻

Time is running out to have your say on the future of policing ⏰

Thousands of people have already shared their views - make sure you join them if you haven’t yet 🤝

PCC John Campion 4 West Mercia Police & Crime Commissioner is running a consultation to understand public views on the Government’s proposal to reduce police forces from 43 to 12, creating so‑called “mega forces” 👮

It takes just three minutes to complete.

Have your say now - https://pulse.ly/vopcjyrc7s

This week is Knife Crime Awareness Week so we're sharing some information about how to support your child to report crime anonymously.

In Worcestershire, issues like knife crime and child criminal exploitation are a reality. Young people are often the ones who see or hear things first - and may have vital information that could prevent harm or stop situations from escalating.

Criminal gangs can make young people feel trapped, scared, or unable to speak out. That’s why it’s so important for parents and carers to have open conversations about the safe, anonymous ways they can report crime and get help without putting themselves at risk.

Reporting crime anonymously:

⚠️ Fearless is the dedicate youth service of the independent charity Crimestoppers. They give young people the power to report crime 100% anonymously.

⚠️ Young people can give information using their online form, or by calling the freephone number 0800 555 111.

⚠️ They cannot track your IP address or your phone number and they have no way of knowing who has contacted them.

⚠️ After receiving a completed form or call, they create a report, ensuring it doesn’t contain any info that could identify the person who reported. The report is then sent to the relevant authority to investigate.

Find out more here: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/fearless/parents-guardians

Further advice and guidance here: https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/information/professionals/child-exploitation/steer-clear

Councillor apologises after calling Reform UK supporters 'idiots'

Read more by following this link 👇👇👇👇

https://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/26127984.councillor-apologises-calling-reform-uk-supporters-idiots/

Message from Cllr

I have asked for a speed survey to be conducted to gain evidence of the true nature of the situation.

I’ve also ask drivers that use the road to be respectful of the people who live there and drive at a safe speed.

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WORCESTERSHIRE County Council chiefs have said they will be open to further measures to help tackle speeding on a ‘dangerous’ Stourport road.

Concerns about speeding vehicles on Wilden Top Road have prompted residents to seek action from councillor Ian Cresswell.

Read more by following this link 👇👇👇👇

https://kidderminsterstandard.co.uk/news/council-chiefs-open-to-more-safety-measures-on-dangerous-stourport-road/

Message from Cllr Karl Perks

Continuing with the farce that is leadership within Worcestershire County Council, we are not even a week into the new administration and already the picture has changed again.
Last week, we saw a hastily assembled “anything but Reform” arrangement take control of Worcestershire County Council.

A Green Party councillor was installed as Leader of the Council, supported by the Green and Independent Alliance, the Liberal Democrats, Independents and, at least initially, the Conservatives.

Residents were told this was about stability.

Yet within days, if not within hours, Conservative involvement had already descended into confusion, the Conservative Group Leader had been suspended by his national party, and the Cabinet positions announced with such confidence were already subject to change, explanation and political embarrassment.

Is this a sign of the stability we were promised and can expect?

The latest email from the new Leader is, frankly, remarkable. We are told that this new Cabinet will work “with purpose and professionalism” and that it will “bring the whole Council together”.
Bring the whole Council together?

Reform UK remains the largest single group on Worcestershire County Council. We hold 22 seats, representing 38.6% of the council. Yet Reform has been excluded entirely from Cabinet. Worse still, on the committee and panel arrangements, Reform has been been excluded from chairing roles entirely, with only a single vice-chair position offered.

So when the new leadership says it wants to “bring the whole Council together”, residents are entitled to ask: which Council do they mean?

Because it does not include the largest elected group.

If we cast our mind back, just a little, in May 2025, Worcestershire voters elected 27 Reform UK councillors and 12 Conservative councillors. That was 39 out of 57 councillors elected from parties broadly on the right of local politics. Even after subsequent changes, Reform UK is still the largest party on the council by a considerable margin.

And yet the administration now running Worcestershire appears to be built around just 18 councillors: the Green and Independent Alliance, the Liberal Democrats and Cllr Adam Kent.

That is only 31.6% of the whole council.

So my rather simple question is this: is this really what Worcestershire voted for?

Residents did not vote for a Green-led county council.

They did not vote for a Cabinet dominated by Greens, Liberal Democrats and Independents. They did not vote for the largest group on the council to be locked out of executive responsibility. And they certainly did not vote for an arrangement where the people who received the clearest countywide mandate are kept away from the very committees and panels designed to provide scrutiny and democratic oversight.

Perhaps they saw this as the last ditch effort that I see it as where they as individuals can hold on to a semblance of power ahead of the next election come May 2027. The will of the people will, I suspect, be louder than it was in May 2025.

No party has an automatic right to govern alone in a council under no overall control. Of course parties have to talk. Of course as councillors we have to work across the chamber. But there is a world of difference between genuine cross-party working and building an administration whose defining feature appears to be the exclusion of Reform UK.

The new Leader’s email also states that the immediate priority must be “the finances and delivering savings through transformation plans to prevent the Council from effectively going bust”.
That sentence is worth reading twice.

Because this is the very financial reality Reform had to confront. This is the same financial emergency that required difficult decisions, emergency financial support, savings, transformation and council tax decisions that nobody took lightly. For months, those realities were used as a political weapon against Reform. Now, within days of taking office, the new administration is using the same language: savings, transformation and preventing the council from effectively going bust.

In other words, the rhetoric has changed, but the reality has not.

How I wonder they may have wished to look a little deeper into their crystal ball..

The financial challenge has not disappeared because the Cabinet seats have changed hands. SEND pressures have not disappeared. Adult social care pressures have not disappeared. Highways challenges have not disappeared. Local Government Reorganisation has not disappeared. The hard choices remain exactly where they were.

The difference is that Worcestershire now has an administration that does not reflect the clear voting will of the county.
The Leader has also taken personal responsibility for Local Government Reorganisation, Transformation and Government Lobbying. These are among the most significant issues the council will face in a generation. Yet this responsibility now sits within an administration that excludes the largest group on the council and relies on a political arrangement that appeared to wobble almost as soon as it was announced.

Again, I and likely residents are entitled to ask “where is the stability?”

Where is the inclusion?

Where is the democratic mandate?

This new administration speaks of professionalism, but its first week has been defined by confusion and self-inflicted chaos. It speaks of stability, but its foundations are already fragile. It speaks of bringing the Council together, while excluding the largest group from meaningful leadership roles.

That is not unity. That is political manoeuvring.

Worcestershire deserves better than an “anything but Reform” administration. It deserves leadership that reflects the electorate’s decision, not one that tries to work around it. It deserves a council where scrutiny, Cabinet responsibility and committee leadership are allocated in a way that respects democratic reality, not political convenience.

Let us see what the next few months bring, and particularly what happens at the July Council meeting.

But one thing is already clear: Worcestershire did not vote for this.

There has never been a better time to try Worcestershire on Demand, the county's flexible, on-demand bus service! 🚌

New users can enjoy 10 free rides when they download the app between Friday 22 May and Sunday 31 May.

Worcestershire on Demand makes it easy to book a journey at a time that suits you. There are no timetables or fixed routes, simply book a ride, walk to a nearby pick-up point, and track your vehicle in real time.

The free rides can be redeemed at any time, but half term is the perfect chance to give the service a try!

The Worcestershire on Demand app is free to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Find out more about Worcestershire on Demand, including service zones and how to use the app here: www.worcestershire.gov.uk/WOD