The deadline for submitting your comments on Telford & Wrekin Council's Community Governance Review is today.
The review is looking to redraw the boundaries of our town and parish councils and reducing the number of councillors in the process. Some of the key proposals in the Wrekin area are:
‣ Creating a separate Muxton Parish Council ‣ Merging Donnington with St Georges, Trench and half of Wrockwardine Wood ‣ Merging Admaston and Bratton into Wellington Town Council ‣ Merging Wrockwardine with Little Wenlock and Rodington ‣ Merging Waters Upton and Ercall Magna Parish Councils ‣ Creating a Weald Moors Parish Council to cover Eyton, Preston and Kynnersley
This process has already been run once and then allowed to run out of time so Labour councillors could support Shaun Davies' campaign to become MP for Telford. It was started again this year and has come under a lot of criticism from Telford & Wrekin Conservative Group and others for the way it is being carried out in a rushed and undemocratic manner.
The proposals that have been put forward go against government guidelines and are designed to consolidate political power rather than serve communities and false and misleading statements have been made by Labour politicians to support their proposals.
The Deputy Leader of Telford & Wrekin Council, Cllr Richard Overton, recently said that Shropshire Association of Local Councils (SALC) "has been very positive" about their plans but this is not true. SALC have heavily criticised the whole process and are preparing a legal challenge against it.
A number of parish clerks have stated their intention to resign from their posts if the proposals go ahead. There is already a shortage of parish clerks, with some parish councils going months without a clerk or using a locum for extended periods of time.
You can find more information on Labour's proposals at https://www.telford.gov.uk/about-my-council/elections/parishes-in-the-borough-community-governance-reviews/
To make your views know, you can email the council on [email protected].
