A flavour of Shropshire
What the proposal says |
What this would mean for North Shropshire |
| 33. Shropshire is a large and predominately rural inland county on the far western edge of the West Midlands. With a population of just over 287,000 and only 0.9 persons per hectare, the county is one of the country's most sparsely populated. | 33. North Shropshire is home to 21% of the county population with the 0.8 persons per hectare. |
| 34. There are 6 Councils in Shropshire - Shropshire County Council and the districts of Bridgnorth, North Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham and South Shropshire - employing a total of 12,176 staff and with a combined annual budget of £307,960,000 (of which the County Council makes up £269,730,000). There are 152 parish and town councils in the county and 12 parish meetings, including 6 Quality Councils. | 34. North Shropshire District Council employs 291 staff across the district at a number of locations and has a net budget of £9,013,000. Shropshire County Council also provides services to people in North Shropshire and has 2400 staff based across the district. There are 33 parish and town councils in North Shropshire |
| 35. Shropshire County Council is one of the best performing councils in England, judged as a four star and improving strongly authority, a rating also anticipated for February 2007. The five districts are largely providing good quality services; one is rated excellent, two good, one fair and one poor. | 35. North Shropshire District Council has made progress since it received a poor rating in 2004. This has been recognised by independent inspectors and by the Government. The Council hopes to be reinspected in mid 2007. |
| 36. Politically, the county is fluid with council administrations changing from one election to the next. All but one of the national political seats is marginal. There are currently 224 councillors across Shropshire local government representing a population of 287,900. In addition there are 1,426 parish and town council seats. | 36. There are 40 North Shropshire District Councillors and 10 County Councillors representing a population of 59,100. The North Shropshire parliamentary constituency (which also includes Oswestry) has a significant majority for the Conservative Party. |
| 37. Most residents (90%) are satisfied or very satisfied with Shropshire as a place to live and a majority (71%) agree that that people from different backgrounds get along well in their local areas (Source: Ipsos MORI resident's survey 2006). | |
| 38. We are working with partners and in consultation with local people to address a number of shared issues: | 38. North Shropshire District Council works with partners from the voluntary and community sector to address these issues through the North Shropshire Partnership and other Partnerships. In a recent inspection of our Environment Services the Audit Commission said that partnership working is beginning to deliver improvement. We have recently launched a Business Forum to improve the involvement of the private sector in dealing with issues across the district. |
| 39. Demographic change: A relatively higher concentration of older people, a decrease in children under five and young people moving away to higher education and/or better quality jobs. | |
| 40. Affordable : The top priority for local people and a particular issue for lone parents, older people over 50 and young people trying to enter the job market. | 40. Affordable is a key issue in North Shropshire which is one of the top five places in the West Midlands in terms of how unaffordable property is. |
| 41. Sparsity: Scattered and often isolated communities present local councils with significant service delivery challenges. |
41. North Shropshire is even more sparsely populated than the average for Shropshire. |
| 42. Economic: Part-time working, rapidly increasing home working and low quality pay. |
42. Wage and working issues are key in North Shropshire and directly link to the affordability of property. |
| 43. Rural deprivation: Some of the most deprived areas nationally and rural isolation. | 43. Two wards in North Shropshire: Market Drayton East and Whitchurch North are amongst the 30% most deprived wards in England. |
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