Lively Craven Arms Committee supports quality over cost
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The local community of the Craven Arms and Rural area met last week (14 December) to vote on Shropshire Council’s annual spending plans.
The group had a debate on whether ‘Shropshire Council should reduce its services or increase council tax.’ A large majority of the community at the meeting said they would support a tax increase.
This was a busy and lively meeting at which £11,300 was allocated in grant awards to Diddlebury Village Hall, Tugford PCC, Culmington Village Hall, the Discovery Centre and Westhope Village Hall. There was also an update on grants that had been awarded at previous meetings and a definitive list of local priorities were agreed.
The community was given the opportunity to use an electronic voting system to express views on Shropshire Council budget proposals affecting services as diverse as Meals on Wheels and leisure centre charges. Car parking charge proposals stimulated a strong response and a clear message was sent that it was not appropriate to charge the same fee at every council car park in the County.
Peter Bellamy, the LJC representative for Diddlebury, invited people to join a ‘Sustainability Working Group’ which would explore specific activities that could be undertaken to address climate change. He outlined a number of local initiatives involving wind, solar and water power generation as well energy efficiency surveys.
Councillor Cecilia Motley, Chairman of the Craven Arms and Rural LJC said: “This was a very successful and well attended meeting. I would urge people to support the sustainability working group, it’s no good just talking about the climate change challenge, we need to draw up a plan of action that involves local people.”
The next LJC meeting will be on Thursday 11 March at 7.00 pm at Craven Arms Community Centre and is likely to feature an exploration into the long term plans of Shropshire Primary Care Trust for Ludlow Hospital and associated health and care services.
For further information on the working of the Local Joint Committee and grants please contact Peter Dunhill, Shropshire Council’s Community Regeneration Officer for the area on 01746 713230 or 07837 718556 or by emailing peter.dunhill@shropshire.gov.uk . The deadline for the next round of grant allocations is Friday 29 January 2010.