Objectives for Shropshire Council

On 1 April 2009 the 6 Shropshire Councils will merge to become a single Shropshire Council.

The 6 councils that will merge are:

• Shropshire County Council
• Bridgnorth District Council
• North Shropshire District Council
• Oswestry Borough Council
• Shrewsbury & Atcham Borough Council
• South Shropshire District Council

Shropshire Council will bring a number of advantages:

One voice for the county – providing strong strategic leadership

• Shropshire Council will be at least a match in the West Midlands for the powerful presence of Birmingham.
• Shropshire Council will speak up for Shropshire to secure a fair share of the regional, national and European resources to benefit market towns and rural areas.
• One voice for Shropshire will be heard more clearly.

£9.8m a year in savings - affordable and delivering value for money

• To protect front line services particularly for children, older people and people with disabilities the move to a single council instead of six, will generate savings in administration and governance. There will be one Chief Executive and management structure instead of six and one set of councillors instead of six.
• Shropshire Council will save at least £7.8m a year, every year, from administration and governance and a further £2m a year from joining up direct services. £9.8m savings every year for four years amounts to £39.2m.

Low and sustainable council tax increases – affordable

• About half of the £9.8m per annum savings will be used to benefit the council tax payer by keeping council tax down.
• Increases in council tax will be between 0% and a maximum of 3½% for the first three years of the new council. In the fourth year the council tax increase will be no more than 4%.

Low transitional costs – affordable and value for money

The costs of delivering this change will be 'one off' costs of £9.8m in total to
be met from:

• Unitary savings £5.2m
• Existing County Council budgets £2.6m
• Existing County Council balances £2.0m

'One door' to make it easier to access services

• 'One door' access to services will be provided in market towns and large villages through a network of libraries, customer service points and 'broadplaces'.

A greater say for local people – neighbourhood engagement

• Shropshire Council will mean that local people will have more of a say through 27 local joint committees.
• Shropshire Council will mean that Parish and Town Councils will be represented on the local joint committees and will vote alongside Shropshire Councillors.
• We will create a new Town Council for Shrewsbury that will maintain local dignity and civic pride.
• The Local Joint Committees will:

o Act as the decision maker over the local delivery of a range of services, for example, determine how the local discretional highways budget is spent.
o Scrutinise local service delivery and hold senior officer and Members to account.
o Spend a delegated budget on local priorities.
o Act as a formal consultation route for the unitary council.

More accountable councillors – neighbourhood engagement

• Shropshire Council will mean that Unitary Councillors will be more accountable for all local government services in their area. Current confusion over which councillors are accountable for which services will be removed.

More and better services for local people – service delivery

Shropshire Council will deliver:

• More and better affordable housing across the whole County.
• Cleaner streets and more litter picking.
• Improvements in street lighting.
• One concessionary travel scheme for the whole County.
• Improved benefits advice.
• Better transport.

More and better services for local businesses – service delivery

Shropshire Council will deliver a joined up and consistent approach to planning and economic development.