Old Council vs. New Council: A Tale of Two Cultures

One thing that really shows the difference between the old and current administrations of Shirebrook Town Council is how often they actually met. Today, I want to show you the first tangible difference that an active opposition makes in political discourse.

When Labour held 100% of seats on Shirebrook Town Council, the meeting calendar looked like this:


When old-Labour partially fell from their seats, but STC was still under a Labour super-majority, the calendar looked like this:


By shortly before Christmas 2025, residents received a gift: a bunch of new councillors co-opted to STC. Most of them were not connected with the Labour Party but were Independent or Reform Party members. I assume they saw what I saw when I was a councillor and… they didn’t like it. That’s why they went hard to work. They forced Labour to change the political culture of STC, and that’s why this month’s calendar looks like this:

WIND OF CHANGE: CHANCE FOR 3 NEW COUNCILLORS
There is one more round of co-option. Three seats are waiting for their new councillors. I hope this time Labour won’t be so scared of me as last time. I hope this time they will allow the guy who started this revolution to join the fight for a better future. Still, I’m not holding my breath. I know that I’m dangerous. Old-Labour’s nickname for me was “Problem.” How do I know that? One of the Labour Party councillors told me.

And STC is still under an old-Labour majority. Yes, a few things have changed, but we are far from real change. As long as those who voted to bury the pellet scandal are on STC, we cannot accept claims of a new chapter in history. From my point of view, we are in the last phase of a dying era of corruption and nepotism.

STC still needs more dedicated, ambitious, hard-working people who will work overtime to make Shirebrook better. Not for themselves, their friends and families, or their political party — but for all of us.

CAN YOU SEE THE CHANGE?
Current activity of councillors is a stark contrast to what we lived through under the previous administration of Kane and Harford. When I was a councillor, the Labour Party was so scared of scrutiny that there were many periods when STC met once every two months. ONCE EVERY TWO MONTHS! And that’s not all.

There was also 2020, when STC went FIVE months without a single Full Council meeting. They “burned” pellets like there was no tomorrow, but scrutiny was absent — like the Town Clerk at today’s STC meetings.

SOMEONE NOTICED
I wrote about it constantly. Time after time, I accused Labour of laziness and dealing with issues behind closed doors, at unofficial meetings, far from my and other residents’ eyes. The first article of this type was published on my blog in August 2020. Then I kept banging on about it every year. But that first article was special. It was like a wake-up call.

I read that article while I was writing this one, and it’s hard not to notice the huge change in my writing style. But there is no change in my stance: my view remained consistent. STC should meet more frequently, discuss issues openly, and be more proactive. Secrecy only harms us all and creates a breeding ground for corruption and nepotism. I was RIGHT ABOUT ALL OF IT. It feels nice to be right… Still, I’m not happy about that. We wasted years with old-Labour.

I NOTICED THE LACK OF NOTICE
That first article hits differently because I was so open about the secrecy of Labour. I noticed the lack of council meeting notices. “Old” Labour not only met very rarely with members of the public present — sometimes they went above and beyond to hide meetings. None of the old-Labour members advertised them on social media, and that was by design. You can read that post if you want. It’s here: https://shirebrook247.com/2020/08/30/secret-audit-meeting-of-shirebrook-town-council

This wasn’t just an occasional missed meeting — this was months on end without the council sitting to make decisions, discuss strategy, or listen to residents. There was also a meeting when they didn’t invite me as a councillor — just to hide things from a democratically elected member of STC.

Everything was sorted in the back room, between “friends and family” of the Labour Party. No minutes published, no residents’ questions answered, no opinion other than Labour’s allowed on “public consultation papers.” And back then, I was the only one still fighting for democracy and transparency. That’s why old-Labour punished me at the last co-option vote.

MEETINGS ONLY EVERY TWO MONTHS (2022)
In my 2022 review of councillor attendance, I highlighted that Full Council meetings were happening only every two months — far too infrequently for effective governance. We know that now without a doubt. They never even tried to obtain external funding. They didn’t do maintenance of taxpayer property. They didn’t plan for the future and spent all the money they could get their hands on. They didn’t fight back against dozens of BDC-inflicted HMOs. Just Labour, doing Labour favours.

Read the full 2022 analysis here: https://shirebrook247.com/2023/01/02/stc-councillors-attendance-in-2022

I WORKED EVEN WHEN THEY THOUGHT I WAS DOWN FOR GOOD
It’s in my DNA. I always work until the job is done, no matter what. So even when I lost my council seat, I continued my work— but this time I was armed with a new weapon: freedom of speech. As a councillor, you need to weigh your words. There are limits on what you can say and do. But there are no limits if you are a blogger. So I went hard after the biggest troublemaker. I chose my “target” carefully, and this time I used his own weapon: secrecy and operating in shadows.

That’s how Chris Kane fell. In silence. Through a letter read by someone else. In the shadow of his own scandals. He did something nasty, and finally, someone other than me noticed and helped me put pressure on him. I’ll be honest — I was surprised. I thought he would fight back, but… mission accomplished. I won’t dwell on it.

Then I moved on to the next target. I went hard after another “old” Labour playmaker (whose name I won’t mention). When he fell, I didn’t celebrate. I just made another sneaky move in the shadows, and today Labour is on its knees. And not because I was so good — it’s only because they were so bad. They still are.

Three Labour Party councillors still sitting on STC are the same councillors who voted to block the investigation into the pellet scandal: Dale Smith, Fred Gobey, and Brian Murray-Carr. Fun fact: David Downes also voted to block it, but now he is allegedly Independent. I wil test that in near future.

ONE COUNCIL, TWO CULTURES
Now let’s consider the current administration. Meetings? Every week. Full Council, Electors, Precept — all scheduled regularly. Almost 100% attendance. They are able to respond to issues faster. They are more transparent and accessible to residents. They are working and publicly talking about plans for the future.

That’s not a matter of opinion; that’s a matter of observable fact. If we want more of that, we need to keep pressure on old-Labour — their style of administration failed us. They need to change or step back and allow new blood to take over. How can we accelerate that change?

Vote in 2027. Don’t stay home. 20% voter participation is inexcusable.

Sylwester Zwierzynski info@shirebrook247.com
Lead picture and end picture: Chat GPT Imagine 1.5 model.