On 26 February 2008, the Boundary Committee for England began the public consultation for the prospective new Shropshire unitary authority.  Parliament has approved a bid from Shropshire County Council for a new unitary authority covering the whole of Shropshire. This means that the County Council and the five district councils in the county will be merged together from 1 April 2009 and a new single Unitary will be created covering the whole of the county.

The new Council will be based on strong, visible political accountability at the strategic and local level and there will be a need for committed, high calibre Councillors to put in place political structures to enable the effective representation of Shropshire’s communities.  They will also decide the direction and scrutiny of local service delivery and the holding to account and scrutiny of other public services in Shropshire.  The new Council will have a total of 96 Councillors following a Leader and Cabinet model.  Four-yearly elections will deliver stability and clear accountability.

In addition to strong, strategic Council leadership, the intention is to relate to people at the level of their sense of community.  Member Champions will be appointed to ensure that communities of interest as well as geographic communities have a strong voice.

The new Council would want to build further on existing links and partnerships, and wishes to establish a New Area Agreement with Central Government, setting out a clear cross-sector vision for Shropshire supported by investment and delivery plans for transport infrastructure, regeneration, housing, and learning and skills.  This would have a strong mandate to influence resource allocation across the public sector and would have a stronger voice to contribute to regional strategies through targets agreed with Government.

With recent research showing that the people of Shropshire have as strong a sense of belonging to the county and their neighbourhood as anywhere in the country, it is vital that the new Council reflects this in its decision making structures and gives people a powerful voice.

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