Road Repair Shambles Reaches New Heights
The shambolic efforts of the County Council and their contractors KIER to repair roads have reached new heights in the last few days. Any thought of coordinating closures or warning communities has gone out the window. Roads are being closed at the drop of a hat and frequently roads are closed and then left for days without any working going on. At one point recently Chirbury was almost totally cut off.
The designated contact officer for KIER isn’t responding to calls or emails and Shropshire Council seems powerless to end this mayhem. I have never seen such angry comments on Facebook and emails and it’s clear from talking to my colleagues that this is going on right across Shropshire.
I will continue to press vigorously to get some semblance of order to this process. As it stands it is wasting taxpayers’ money on inefficient contractors and residents’ money on hideously expensive fuel to make unnecessary journeys. Taking down boards when the road is open would be a start. Better notice and a board saying where the road is closed would make a huge difference in very rural areas such as Chirbury and Worthen.
£150 Energy Bill Rebate from the Government.
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The by-election for the Shropshire Council Division of Highley was called after the resignation of Dave Tremellen, Independent. The Liberal Democrat candidate Mark Williams who has lived in Highley for nearly 35 years fought a strong campaign to represent the village he loves. The results were as follows:
Lib Dem – 630, 54.5% (+54.5%)
Conservative – 279, 24.1% (-9.5%)
Labour – 239, 20.7% (+7.3%)
Green – 9, 0.8% (+0.8%)
The Lib Dems have not fought Highley since 2013.
Agent, Heather Kidd, said ” Mark is so well known in the community and we were absolutely delighted when he said he would really like to be the Councillor for Highley. He and the Liberal Democrat team worked so hard to win this election. He will make a great Councillor.”
Marks said today: “I’m humbled to have won, especially with the numbers that came in. The fact that so many in Highley have put their trust in us is overwhelming.
“I want to live up to the expectations people have of us and of me.
“Highley is lovely already, but there’s room for improvement. I’ve already spoken with the parish council so that I can work with them to move things along. I’m going to begin by getting more bins, and by working with the local primary school to do litter picks.”