Heather's Report for November

November 5, 2022 5:55 PM
Originally published by Heather Kidd

B4386 and A488

I have been contacted by an Officer working for WSP (who do the technical work on road improvement schemes) to talk through the safety issues on both the B4386 from Montgomery border to Dumbleholes and also the A488 from the Bishops castle Division to just short of the Hope Village Hall junction.

I outlined speeding issues on both roads and poor driving.

Issues raised on the B4386 included:

  • The junction in Chirbury with the A490
  • Warning lights and 20mph at Chirbury School
  • Speed and pavements in Marton
  • Priority on the Brockton bridge and a pavement for pedestrian safety and to slow the traffic
  • The need for 20mph limit at Long Mountain School
  • The narrow pavements in Worthen and the lack of visibility to cross the road at Back Lane
  • Safety on the road past Aston Pigott and Aston Rogers turnings.
  • The Folly Junction

These are the highlights and I raised far more - including the fact the both Parishes had saved money towards helping to improve this road. I have not been told when there will be any conclusions for this but I will chase for details.

Air Ambulance

Alongside my colleague, Danny Bebb from Churchstoke I have been campaigning to keep the Wales Air Ambulance base from being moved from Welshpool to Caernarfon. Danny has spoken to the manager of Welshpool Airport who was confirmed that, contrary to statements from the Air Ambulance, night flights are possible from the site and in fact do happen at times.

If you would like to sign the petition to keep the Welshpool base then go to: https://www.change.org/p/hands-off-our-air-ambulance-base-in-welshpool

SpArC UPDATES

The Save the SpArC charity in Bishop's Castle , of which Ruth Houghton and I are Trustees, continues to support the leisure centre in Bishop's Castle. The charity has recently refurbished the gym with state of the art gym equipment to the value of £90k using funds raised by the local community over the last five years. Other upgrades funded by the charity include, amongst others, the installation of baby change units, the purchase of new folding tables for use across the centre and theatre and a new DVD player for the theatre. We will need to continue to raise money as the cost of energy may make the Centre very expensive to run. We also know that the 50 year old swimming pool lining will need to be replaced. Wtch out on Facebook for future fundraising and on my round Robin emails. To join the latter just drop me an email at heather.kidd@shropshire.gov.uk and I will add you.

Worthen Brook

I recently organised a meeting between the Parish Council, Shropshire Council, Environment Agency and residents to discuss the perennial problem of flooding along the brook in Brookside/Millstream. Action points from the meeting include:

l The parish is going to urgently buy more flood sacks and they are going to be stored close to the brook.

l The Environment Agency are getting back to us shortly about clearance of the stream and a simpler mechanism to do so in future.

l John Bellis - Shropshire Council's Land Drainage Officer- will circulate plans for reducing the flow of water during floods.

l There will be a site meeting between Shropshire Fire and Flood team, residents and Councillors in the near future on how these plans will be put into action.

l The legal agreement that was drawn up for working on the flooding with the Parish before the pandemic has been found and can now be progressed.

Wishing you all and very Happy Christmas despite the difficult times we may be facing.

Heather