Is your council facing the chop or the blender?
One parish council will cease to exist, while others will be created, shaken up or merged if councillors agree to adopt sweeping new boundary arrangements across Telford & Wrekin borough.
A meeting of the borough’s Boundary Review Committee on Monday (May 12) is set to see councillors move on to a second round of consultation before they are called on to make a final decision.
The borough council has carried out one round of consultations on changes to towns and parishes to reflect changes in population and to take effect in time for the all-out elections in 2027.
Officers at the council have examined scored of responses, crunched the numbers and are proposing the outright abolition of Dawley Hamlets Parish Council.
It represents Little Dawley, Horsehay, Doseley, Lightmoor, Aqueduct and parts of Lawley which will be taken into other parishes under the plans.
Two new councils could be created for both Priorslee and Muxton while number of other parishes are set to either merge or have their boundaries altered as residential areas are moved from one area to another.
One of the proposals is that Newport Town Council take over the Station Road area from Chetwynd Aston & Woodcote Parish.
The knock on effect of this would be that Chetwynd Aston & Woodcote Parish Council is considered too small. The plan is to merge Chetwynd Aston and Church Aston into a new parish council and make Newport Town Council bigger.
Council officials say the new arrangement for the Station Road development would fit “better with the more urban Newport Town Council than with Chetwynd Aston & Woodcote.”
They add that in the last few years whenever a vacancy has occurred at Chetwynd Aston or Church Aston or both, there has been insufficient interest from potential candidates meaning no election is held and, instead, the vacancies have been filled by co-opting a new councillor.
“Whilst this is within the rules for filling vacancies, it does not lend itself to efficient democracy when there is no ability to put the vacancies to an election,” says the report to Monday’s meeting of the Boundary Review Committee.
A brand new parish council is on the cards for Muxton which has a “distinct community identity and different needs from Donnington.”
Also on the cards is a new parish council for Priorslee which has a “distinct community identity and different needs from St Georges.
The knock on effect of those will mean the creation of a new parish council for a merged St Georges and Donnington which “share a common identity of being older established communities in the borough with similar needs, demographics and identity.”
A new council is also proposed to merge Oakengates, Wrockwardine Wood & Trench.
Hollinswood and Randlay Parish Council and Randlay and Stirchley and Brookside Parish Council are set to be merged to create a new The Nedge Parish which would line up with borough council boundaries.
The proposed Nedge Parish Council will have an electorate of 11,324 and be served by 18 parish councillors across three parish wards.
Lilleshall Parish Council will stay as proposed housing will see “significant population growth.”
Chetwynd Parish Council and Edgmond Parish Council could be retained or merged under the plans.
Tibberton & Cherrington can keep its council bit it would be reduced from eight councillors to six.
Waters Upton and Ercall Magna could be retained or merged under two options that councillors can choose from.
In Ketley the council will stay but the area of Beveley Road and Lea Brook (to the east of Ketley Park Road) will be swapped over to the newly created Oakengates, Wrockwardine Wood & Trench Parish Council.
Kynnersley Parish Council is set to be merged with the existing parish meetings for Eyton and Preston to create a new Weald Moors Parish Council.
Officers at the borough council say these three areas have a ‘strong rural identity and this proposal is focussed on retaining that character and community identity whilst enabling good democratic representation and ensuring viable parish councils.
Hadley & Leegomery Parish Council will stay with changes to its councillor arrangements.
It is proposed that the areas of Little Dawley and Aqueduct are incorporated into Great Dawley Town Council and that Cambridge Close and Baptist Avenue are incorporated into Great Dawley Town Council.
That the area formed by Concorde, Milners Lane and Dawley Green Way in the existing Lawley & Overdale Parish Council are incorporated into Great Dawley Town Council.
Horsehay and Doseley are set to be incorporated into The Gorge Parish Council together with the Nightingale Walk parish ward of the existing Dawley Hamlets Parish Council.
That the Small Hill area is incorporated into Lawley & Overdale Parish Council.
Madeley Town Council will be retained.
Admaston and Bratton are set to be incorporated into Wellington Town Council from Wrockwardine Parish Council.
That the Lewis Crescent area of Wrockwardine is set to be incorporated into Wellington Town Council.
The knock on effect of this will be the merger of Wrockwardine and Little Wenlock Parishes to create a new Wrockwardine and Little Wenlock Parish Council.
Rodington Parish Council could either be retained with seven councillors or merged to form a Little Wenlock, Wrockwardine and Rodington Parish Council.
Story by David Tooley – Local Democracy Reporter
Pic: Telford Live
