https://www.facebook.com/642176705639719/

Cllr David Taylor, Redditch (2026)

23/10/2026

* Feckenham battery farm turned down *

(Note - application 25/00888/FUL, from Boom Developments Ltd).

Last night (Thursday 22nd October), Redditch Borough Council's planning committee turned down the plan for a 400MW battery storage site at Wheaten Hill Farm, between Astwood Bank and Feckenham.

A battery compound of nearly 5 hectares on Green Belt farmland.

Feckenham Parish Council, local campaigners and residents raised serious concerns such as harm to the Green Belt, fire risk from lithium-ion batteries, emergency access on narrow lanes, construction traffic, and an industrial site in open countryside.

No party politics, just local people turning up, doing their homework and made to be listened to.

Westminster's net zero push keeps putting these big battery and solar sites in rural communities. Local decisions should be made by local people on local merits, not by national party politics.

I know I bang on about it but it has to be People before Party.

The formal reasons for refusal will be in the published decision. The developer could still appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, so this may not be the end of it.

Good news for now.

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor Redditch East
People before Party

*Image is for illustration only

23/10/2026

* Storm Austen hits Redditch today *

Yellow warning from10am to 9pm.

Gusts of 45 to 55mph. 20 to 30mm of rain.

The advice is:
* Clear the leaves off your drains and gutters.
* Tie down the bins, the trampoline and anything loose.

And if it floods, the number are below:

Road or highway drain flooding is the County Council:
01905 845676 or 01905 822822

Sewer flooding or a burst pipe is Severn Trent:
0800 783 4444

Power cut you need to ring:
105

Danger to life:
999

Generally a blocked gully isn't the weather, it is often maintenance.
So if the drain on your street fills up every time it rains, tell me and I'll chase it.

Stay safe.

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor - Redditch East
People before Party

*Image below is for illustration only

23/10/2026

* Council Tax governed by Westminster *

Bills in England went up 4.9% on average this April, above inflation, with 8.98% across Worcestershire.

Now, under the Government's new council funding rules, some councils have been given permission to go above the 5% cap. Wandsworth is proposing a 94% rise. Westminster council says bills may need to go up 200%. Hammersmith and Fulham has warned of 150%.

It is obvious why and most Councillors have been saying this for years:

***Central government keeps underfunding local government***

Labour and the Tories hand it to councils to take the blame and then put our bills up to cover it. It's the same trick every time, whichever party is in charge.

I left Reform over council tax rises and executive bonuses, and I meant it, and I would do it again. But I don't just blame local Reform policy on tax rises, services across the County face an annual shortfall, and it isn't a one off.

Local residents shouldn't be paying more so politicians in London can look like they're balancing the books.

That's why I'm Independent, and it is why aside from funding (which is why we pay our taxes in the first place), Party politics should stay out of local Government.

Should there be a hard cap on council tax rises?

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor - Redditch East
People before Party

*Image is for illustration only

22/10/2026

* £3 trillion in debt and Labour will ask for more from us *

The national debt has just passed £3 trillion. In September, the Government borrowed £24.5 billion, more than forecast. The interest bill that month was £10.9 billion, the highest September on record.

That's nearly £11 billion a month, gone, before a single pothole in Matchborough is filled or a single bobby is put on the beat.

And next week's Budget is expected to answer it the usual way. I am expecting more tax, not less waste.

Here's what Westminster never admits. When they run the national finances into the ground, it's local councils and local services that get squeezed. Then they tell Worcestershire CC and RBC to put our bills up to fill the gap they created.

Fix it. Stop the waste, the endless bureaucracy and the love of quangos. Look harder at the bloated welfare bill and get people back into work.

More importantly fund local government, and fill the gap so hard working tax payers don't have to. Keep local decisions on spend, well local.

I admit my job is Redditch, not Westminster. But I'm as frustrated as the next person by the never-ending expectation that good people will be squeezed out of their wages.

I'll say it again: People before Party, and keep national party politics out of local decisions.

Should the Budget cut waste, or raise your taxes again? Tell me below what you think

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor Redditch East
People before Party

21/10/2026

*Crime and Police part 2 *

Following on from this morning's post, I wanted to check the facts on local policing, as some Labour supporters seem hellbent on telling us Andy and his crew have put more into our forces.

So the good news - the Government says it's putting a record £21 billion into policing this year.

But....

Here's the catch. £364 million of this year's rise doesn't come from Westminster. It comes from us, through our council tax. Ministers expected every police commissioner to add the maximum £15 to a Band D bill, and West Mercia's own budget report says real-terms increases were made 'dependent on maximising precept'.

So, what did we get for it?

West Mercia still had a £2.5 million gap to fill, and warned that more cuts may be needed. Pay rises, rising costs and the Government's own National Insurance hike swallowed the extra money first.

Meanwhile, reported robberies in Redditch have gone from 52 to 102 in a year.

So we are paying more and receiving less. There is a pattern here...

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor - Redditch East
People before Party

21/10/2026

* Robberies up 96% in Redditch *

102 robberies in a year across Redditch borough. The year before, it was 52.

Robbery means force, or the threat of force. This is very bad news...

Also:

* Shoplifting up 9%. 756 cases, more than two a day.
* Drug offences up 13%.
* Violence and sexual offences up 9%.

Good news is that vehicle crime is down 43%, burglary is down 5% and anti-social behaviour reports are down 17%. .

Why the rise? Because Westminster keeps our Police stretched to breaking point.

Last week, as Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board, I put the question everyone wants answered to the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner - can we have more local bobbies? The answer? West Mercia now has 2,500 officers. That's 25 fewer than in 2024.

We need more police on the streets.

Shop workers in across Redditch shouldn't have to brace themselves every shift. Pensioners shouldn't think twice about walking to the shops.

So again, what do we all want? Police we actually see. Repeat offenders off our streets. Courts that back the police, not the criminals.

I'll keep pressing West Mercia Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner on this.

What are your thoughts? Is it better now than last year?

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor Redditch East
People before Party

*image is for illustration only

20/10/2026

* Malvern autism school, delayed. Again. *

I'm honestly disgusted.

The new 120-place special free school in Malvern for autistic pupils aged 5 to 19 was due to open in September 2027. Now, after a "funding review", the Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister has told the county council that September 2029 is the earliest it can open.

That's another Labour U-turn, and it's children with special educational needs who pay the price.

It feels like every week brings another let-down, and I can't give parents who really need it any assurance.

Until this school opens, these children are being taught, or will be taught, in mainstream schools that simply aren't ready for them. Some of them have very real and very difficult learning disabilities. They need specialist places, and they need them now.

This school should have been built years ago. Instead it's been pushed back again, two more years than planned and around three years from today.

I'm not alone. Cllr Dan Boatright-Greene, Cabinet member for education, is just as angry and will be lobbying the Government. In his words:

"I'm absolutely raging about this."

He added: "...We've got children desperately needing specialist school places, a council doing everything it can to provide them and a government telling us the school we were promised is another two years away".

It's not good enough.

If you are affected by this, please get in touch with myself or WCC for more information and advice.

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor Redditch East
Standing up for Residents

*image is for illustration only

20/10/2026

* Church Hill PACT Walkabout today *

Today (Tuesday 20th October) West Mercia Police's Church Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team are doing a PACT walkabout from 11am to 12.30pm.

Meet outside Maple View Medical Practice, Church Hill Centre, Tanhouse Lane.

76 crimes were recorded in Church Hill in August, up from 60 in July. 31 of them were violence and sexual offences, and 26 were anti-social behaviour.

Their three priorities are anti-social behaviour (especially off-road bikes and e-scooters), speeding and shoplifting. Good, I would like to see bikes seized and repeat offenders in front of a judge.

Neighbourhood policing has been stripped back for years while Westminster argues about everything except our streets. The officers walking round today are the ones who actually know Church Hill.

Can't make it? There's another drop-in on Wednesday 25th November, 1pm to 2pm, at St Andrew's Church, Upper Field Close.

They can't fix what they're not told.

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor Redditch East
Standing up for Residents

*image is for illustration only

19/10/2026

* Do you still want to rejoin the EU? *

Look across the Channel this month.

Lets begin with France. It started in September as school blockades over teacher shortages, packed classrooms and crumbling buildings. By Saturday it was more than half a million people on the streets, and in city after city it turned into rioting. Now its fires and looting. A town hall roof collapsed in a blaze in Limoges. Around 2,400 arrests and nearly 1,000 police officers injured. France's own interior minister admitted the police "lost control".

Opportunist looters have treated it as open season. The French government says organised far-left supporters have joined in.

And it's not just France.

In Belgium, masked protesters hurled rocks and fireworks in Brussels after a national strike against budget cuts.

In Italy, cost-of-living protests turned violent in Milan and Turin, with more than 140 police officers injured in a single day.

And in Albania, nearly a week of riots in Tirana, a police station set on fire and hundreds detained. Albania isn't even in the EU yet; it's a candidate country queuing to join.

This is the club some in Westminster want us to re-join.

Here at home in Redditch, there's a real debate about banning face coverings on the street. When you see what happens when people can riot with their faces hidden, it isn't hard to see why.

What do you think? Is Europe on the verge of Military intervention? Is rioting every justified?

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor Redditch East
Standing up for Residents

*Images are for illustration only.

19/10/2026

* £20 million for Woodrow and Greenlands, spend it wisely *

Up to £20m is coming to Woodrow and Greenlands over the next 10 years through Pride in Place. That's great news, and long overdue.

So here's my question - Will it actually go on what residents want?

Or on consultants, expensive glossy reports and a nice plaque nobody reads?

I'm glad the board says local people come first.

They're holding a drop-in this Saturday, 24 October, at St John's Church, Greenlands. Coffee, cake, and a chance to speak up.

Don't leave it too late. The board's neighbourhood plan has to go to the Government by 30 November, so this is one of the last chances to shape where the money goes.

I have real links to Woodrow and Greenlands. My sister went to school and lived here. My fiancée lived here, and so did my best friend. I use the shops and walk my dog around the area almost every day.

This area needs and deserves investment.

The board has promised every decision and every payment will be published. I'll be reading every line.

The local MP Chris Bloore sits on the board alongside the Chair (Pete Martin, the local anti-knife-crime campaigner) and Redditch Borough Council which holds the money and keeps the formal records.

I'm sceptical, because of the waste we see in local government. Around half a million pounds has been spent on an external report and employing a new Director to Worcestershire County Council for local government reorganisation, and now that has been paused.

If £20 million is given, let's make sure £20 million is spent on what the area needs, not on quangos and expensive reports that blight local government and cost the taxpayer every day.

Link below:

https://prideinplaceredditch.com/events/meet-the-board-24-october

Cllr David Taylor
Independent County Councillor Redditch East
Standing up for Residents

*Image is for illustration only.

Cllr David Taylor

23/10/2026

23/10/2026

23/10/2026

22/10/2026

21/10/2026

21/10/2026

20/10/2026

20/10/2026

19/10/2026

19/10/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request