We have been expecting this news for more than a year. Seven Trent Water will close Temeside from Old Street to Weeping Cross for roadworks from 25 April to 19 July. The sewage system on Old Street and Temeside does not have enough capacity to cope with storm events. When it is overloaded, sewage is discharged into the Teme, a site of special scientific interest and a river that is expected to receive bathing quality status shortly. This is essential work and we will have to put up with the disruption. Roadworks in Sheet Road and Station Drive should be lifted before this scheme begins. We will resist any other roadworks, except emergency roadworks over which we no control, until the closure of Temeside ends. During the roadworks, the 722 town service will not serve Old Street. The Steventon loop will still be served.
Brighter Ludlow launches with ambition to smarten up our town centre
Ludlow town centre is still doing well but some areas look a bit down of heel of late. We have too many empty shops. Too many blank windows. The reasons for this are complex. Online retail. Supermarkets. Parking charges. Rents. Rates. And retirement of owners of independent businesses. Empty shops are not good for the people who live in our town. They are not good for our visitor economy. As citizens, as artists and as councillors we have no powers to fill empty shops. But we can smarten up our town centre. That’s why we are launching Brighter Ludlow, an arts initiative to smarten up the town centre with vibrant installations in shop windows, led by the community. Working with Gather, a new cowork, arts and cultural space in East Hamlet, we aim to get going quickly. We have raised initial funding from SY8 Studios and Tally Ho Inn Bouldon, and Hundred House […]
Council Cuts: Hope of saving Craven Arms Household Recycling Centre
Today, the number of signatures of the petition to save the household recycling centre (HRC) passed 8,000. Thank you everyone. If you haven’t signed there is still time: https://bit.ly/cravenarmsrecyling. Shropshire Council has now said that the closures, approved by Conservative councillors on a five vote majority, may not happen. Ian Nellins, the portfolio holder for waste and recycling has now said all options for cutting the costs of the HRCs rather than closing them are being looked at. I have proposed increasing the proposed charge for green waste by £8 a year to pay to keep the HRCs open. The council is looking at other options, such as closing each of the HRCs up to two days a week but ensuring that all are open at weekends. It is currently discussing options and costs with Veolia. This is welcome news.
Council Cuts: Shropshire Council to close Shirehall and sell it to raise money
There has long been a split in Shropshire Council between councillors who want to keep Shirehall and this that want to demolish it and move to the town centre. Last December, the council agreed to dispose of the building in the next few years after work on Civic Hub in the town centre is completed. That Civic Hub is still in the ideas stage and there is no clear idea of where the money will come fund it. Unless the council sells the 3.5 hectare Shirehall site for housing boosting its capital reserves which were depleted by the £51m purchase of the shopping centres in Shrewsbury town centre. The budget plans agreed two weeks ago days propose that Shirehall is sold before April 2025 to make a saving of £325,000 in 2024/25.
Council Cuts: Housing waiting list to close except for priority cases
As part of the package of £62 million cuts agreed by Shropshire Council, the waiting list for social and council housing is to be closed except for those most in need. I raised concerns about this at council on 29 February and received some information from councillor Dean Carroll, the portfolio holder for housing. The next day I sought clarification. This arrived yesterday evening. Currently the housing register is open to allcomers, including people with no local connection. The “temporary” changes being brought in will close the register except to those most in need. That will include everyone to which the council owes a statutory duty, for example because they are homeless. The council is concerned that some social housing is being allocated by housing associations to people who have sufficient resources to live in the private sector or have no local connection.