Two Councillors who have played a significant role in the community campaign to save the SpArC leisure Centre in Bishops Castle have welcomed Shropshire Councils decision to include it in 6 centres it will support under its new leisure strategy.

Johnny Keeley. Shropshire Councillor for Bishops Castle said: "Up till now the Council has been working on the premise that they would only be supporting three 'Leisure Hubs' in the County. None anywhere near Bishops Castle. This has now been extended to six centres including SpArC. This is in no small way due to the superb campaign run by many across our community raising SpArC's profile and around £80,000 of funding to safeguard SpArC. I am delighted that the County has responded to our efforts."

HEALTH CHIEF VISTS BISHOPS CASTLE AND CLUN

Initiative for radical new healthcare system for rural Shropshire.

Simon Freeman, the new CEO of the Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, can to visit South West Shropshire yesterday (Thursday 14^th March) to see for himself the problems of delivering health care in rural Shropshire.

Shropshire Liberal Democrats were prominent on the 'March for Education' in Shrewsbury on Saturday (11th March)

Heather saidsaid: ' Education faces the biggest cuts in a generation.
In this financial settlement in education, the Conservative Government will cut £32.74 per pupil from our Primary School budgets and £14.19 per pupil from Secondary School budgets in Shropshire. For small schools this is a tremendous blow as they are already facing deficit budgets, falling roles and increased costs. This will put the future of many rural schools at risk.'

Heather Kidd has welcomed the final erection of brown tourist signs around her home village of Chirbury over a year after they were ordered and 4 months after she found them mouldering at the back of a council depot.

Heather said: "Chirbury is quite a historic village and we have been looking forward to these signs going up for quite a while."

Two Shropshire Councillors have castigated Shropshire's IT system after a failure on Thursday left them with e-mail or internet communication. This comes after multiple failures over several months left residents unable to communicate their councillors for weeks at a time. Heather Kidd said: "The final straw for me was last Thursday was when my ipad crashed for the umpteenth time. It seems this time it was system wide not just individual pieces of equipment."

Residents in the Hope Valley have reacted angrily to the restrictions put on an alleged 'consultation' on the speed limit on the A488 along the Hope Valley

Heather Kidd said: "I have been approached by a number of residents in the Hope area who are very annoyed about the blinkered way that Shropshire Council have handled this so called consultation.

Heather has hit out at the time it has taken for agencies charged with the welfare of the public and the environment to remove a single dead sheep from a watercourse near Worthen.

Heather Kidd said:
" A resident reported this sheep dead in the Rae brook near the village of Worthen on 6th January. It was near a public right of way and polluting the watercourse. I (and she )spent the next 17 days arguing with DEFRA, the Environment Agency and two departments of Shropshire Council about whether is should be removed or not. In the end I got the animal removed by appealing directly to the landowner .

Pontesbury Post Office will be running the Post Office there every Wednesday

from 12.15pm to 14.45.

This is to deliver the service lost when Bentlont shop closed - very sadly.

You can pay bills, license your car, take out money and do everything you can do at Pontesbury PO.

Heather said "It was a great session lat wednesday and lots of people popped in to use it. There was coffee, soup and a local history session put on to make it a real community occasion. BT are putting in a permanent line for the Post Office at the end of the month. It is there to stay!!! The picture shows local Ralph Graves using their services. He was the first customer. The first of many...

Heather is urging the Council and police to take more rigorous action to curb speeding on the notorious A488 through the Hope Valley, a road that has seen a spate of accidents over the past few years..

Heather says: "for a number of years many people, including myself, have been pushing Shropshire Council to introduce a speed limit down the Hope Valley. Now they are consulting on introducing a 50 mph limit and then on only on the stretch between Minsterley and the riding stable in Hope. "We have had so many accidents and near misses on this entire stretch of road that I am shocked at the plans. We really need for a 40mph limit to be introduced for the whole stretch of the valley as far up as the Hemford Crossroads. This road alternates straight stretches with tortuous bens through woodland. Not only is visibility poor but it is also prone to ice in winter

The much loved Head at our Federation has been quite seriously ill since early November. It is unlikely that she will return to the helm before the end of January.

The Federation has been exceedingly lucky to have Les Ball, the Head of Norbury School, step in as Acting Head and help our Head and school through this difficult time. Les started his teaching career at Chirbury School and has a great affection for the Federation.