Town Council Committees

Yesterday evening I attended two Shifnal Town Council Committee meetings via Zoom:

• Employment Committee.
• Given the nature of the meeting I cannot discuss details of this meeting, other than to say we as members have concerns and are monitoring the welfare of council staff during this COVID lockdown.
• Movement Management Advisory Committee.
• The other members of this committee and I had a very constructive discussion on a range of topics including the Shifnal Integrated Transport Scheme (SITS) and the Town Centre Car Park. Tenders have now gone out for SITS via Steve Brown at Shropshire Council. A budget was set by the County for this project, however, hopefully the work can be contracted well within the initial budget. This would allow the Town Council to make further investments into the Town Centre. I suggested that we should be looking at safety of pedestrians, such as retaining the railings or other barriers, as Kath Hemsley of Shifnal Matters and others have pointed out. I would also like to see investment made into improving the general appearance and attractiveness of our shopping area which is frankly uncared for and not properly maintained by the County Council.
• The car parking committee, as was, has now been absorbed into the Movement Management Advisory Committee. Following the resignation of its chair, Matthew Fennel-Fox, who did tremendous work for the committee and for Shifnal, we want to ensure that we continue towards our goal of making the Town Centre accessible for residents who wish to park and shop but not to commuters simply using Aston Street as a free car park. Therefore, I recommended, and we agree that we will be progressing plans already set out under Matthew’s tenure to look at a parking scheme involving some element of free parking for a short period (one or two hours), followed by charging for longer stays (i.e. mainly commuters). There are limitations as to what profits from car parking charges can be used for by the council though. I suggested that monies could be invested in beginning to implement the green agenda, introducing electric car charging points, which was agreed with by other members. After 2030, under the government’s green plan there will be a ban on new petrol and diesel cars. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54981425 so it seems sensible that we begin making plans for that eventuality.

Next Monday I will be attending a Tong Parish Council meeting where it is likely we will discuss the County Council’s local plan review. I would encourage all residents to complete Shifnal Matters’ petition at change.org https://www.change.org/p/shropshire-council-hands-off-shifnal-s-greenbelt

I have submitted further questions to Shropshire Council’s cabinet regarding the review.

Next Tuesday I will attend the Donington with Boscobel Parish council meeting. Recent concerns in that part of the district have included local flooding. I’ve contacted John Bellis, the flood manager at Shropshire Council and asked that this area be investigated.