Its been revealed
that jobs could be axed at both Shropshire and Telford
& Wrekin Councils during the next five years.
Shropshire Council could be set
to axe 1,300 jobs with Telford & Wrekin Council
axing in the region of 400 positions.
Telford & Wrekin Council is facing a 15-20 per cent
budget cut whilst Shropshire Council is facing a predicted
budget cut of between 5 - 10 per cent.
Councils across England have been
responding to a BBC survey about their spending plans
over the coming years. The councils were asked to detail
their estimated budget cuts, changes in spending, vulnerable
areas and job cuts. Answers were given as part of the
‘Facing the Cuts’ survey by BBC Analysis
& Research.
The number of job losses predicted
by Shropshire Council is among the highest of the local
authorities that responded to the survey.
Both Shropshire Council and Telford
& Wrekin Council said they would try and avoid compulsory
redundancies, but each post would be reviewed when it
became vacant.
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An exhibition of a copy of
the Turin Shroud with relevant artefacts and related
events is heading to Shropshire this week.
The exhibition has been put together
by Pam Moon, a lay minister at St Peter's Anglican Church,
Little Aston, in the Diocese of Lichfield, where her
husband, the Revd Phil Moon is Vicar.
For the past six years Mrs Moon
has been giving talks about the Shroud of Turin illustrated
with video clips. She emphasised: "The purpose
of this exhibition is to use the Shroud as a visual
aid to tell the story of the Passion and the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ."
Mrs Moon said: "I have been
fascinated by the Turin Shroud since I was a teenager.
When I received a gift of money for my 50th birthday
from my mother I decided to use it to buy a full-length
replica printed on cotton and two photographic negatives
to add interest to my talks."
She explained: "The replica
image was created by an American photographer, Barrie
Schwortz, who was the official photographer at the STURP
(Shroud of Turin Research Project) examination of the
Shroud in 1978. The full-length replica is currently
one of only six in the world.
"I was deeply moved when
I first saw the full-length images. It is possible to
get an idea of the Shroud from television pictures,
books, magazines and newspapers articles, but seeing
it in its entirety is profoundly challenging."
The exhibition will take place
in St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury between March 3 –
8.
The event will open with a lecture
on the shroud by Pam Moon at 7.30pm on March 3 at the
church. Tickets are available on the door and will cost
£5. Subsequent entry to the exhibition will be
free.
The exhibition has been organised
by the Friends of St Chad’s Shrewsbury to raise
funds for repairs to the tower.
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Work starts today
on the A483 northbound, near Pant, to resurface the
road and footpaths to improve safety.
Additional work to reconstruct
the embankment near the crossing by the School Lane
junction will also be carried out. The embankment is
in need of work to ensure its continued integrity and
prevent materials from falling onto the narrow footpath
which will be widened in the scheme to improve safety
and access for pedestrians.
Scheduled improvements to the
road, markings, drains and embankment are expected to
take nine weeks to complete.
Temporary traffic lights will
be used to control traffic flow when necessary and working
hours will be 06.00 to 20.00 hrs. A full closure of
the road will be required over three to four nights
during the work but a diversion route will be clearly
signposted.
Highways Agency Project Manager,
John Steel, said: “As we are resurfacing the road,
the opportunity is being taken to redesign part of the
embankment. The scheme will benefit pedestrians and
road users alike.
In the best interests of
the environment, and to limit the number of heavy vehicles
visiting the site, recycled materials will be used wherever
possible.”
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Residents living in
the Malinslee Local Policing area are being invited
to attend a PACT Meeting that is being held in the ward.
PACT (Partners and Communities
Together) will be staging the meeting in a bid to allow
members of the public to discuss community issues with
the various represented organisations. The meeting will
take place at Old Park School on Brunel Road this evening.
The meeting will start at 6pm,
Local Police Officer PC Marvin Choudhury, from the Malinslee
Local Policing Team, has encouraged as many people as
possible to attend and share their thoughts with the
partner agencies in attendance.
Representatives from a number
of agencies including Telford & Wrekin Council,
Wrekin Housing Trust and Bromford Housing will be attending
the meeting alongside members of the Malinslee Local
Policing Team and also local councillor and West Mercia
Police Authority member Kuldip Sahota.
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To celebrate one year in business in Bridgnorth, top hairdressers’
Red Salons are giving away their services to lucky customers.
Red Salons moved to 3
Waterloo Terrace from Ironbridge in March 2009 and,
to mark the first anniversary, the style team are offering
free haircuts to any clients booking a full head permanent
colour or highlights between 1-6 March.
Red Salons owner Neil Probert
said: “Our first year in Bridgnorth has been wonderful.
We have made many new friends and become part of the
local business community, for instance, by providing
a box office service to the Bridgnorth Musical Theatre
Company.
“We wanted to share our
success with the most important people – our clients.
And what better way than to give them a free haircut
when they book in for their colour treatment?”
Red Salons was founded by Neil
Probert in 1997 and specialises in precision cutting
and creative colouring in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
The salon is currently the only stockist of the Organic
brand hair products in Shropshire.
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Telford & Wrekin Council has decided to retain the
frontage of the Lord Hill pub in Dawley following extensive
feedback from local residents.
This will enable the creation of additional retail
development and will allow proposed shops and a planned
new supermarket and the new Sports and Learning Community
to knit seamlessly into the historic fabric of Dawley.
The proposals for the re-use of the Lord Hill building
include temporary use by contractors for several years
prior to any development of the façade.
The decisions are all part of the council’s multi-million
pound vision to transform the historic heart of Dawley
as part of its Borough Towns Initiative.
The public were asked to comment on four possible options
for the building’s future use, including retention
of the whole building, two options involving full demolition
and the option that retains the front element of the
building.
The council has given extensive consideration to all
the feedback from the consultation and reviewed both
the cost implications of the options and the effects
each of them would have on the wider development before
making its decision.
Councillor Eric Carter, cabinet member for housing
and regeneration, said: “This decision is an important
step forward in the regeneration of Dawley and will
mean that the building’s historic façade
is retained while enabling the transformation of the
centre to continue.
“It will also pave the way for the mix of new
retail development in the centre of Dawley to complement
the new Sports and Learning Community that is being
built on the edge of the centre to replace the existing
Phoenix School.
“Although the details of exactly what businesses
will be part of the new retail developments in the centre
of Dawley are still to be decided, we hope that this
would be able to accommodate a banking facility.”
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A Brookside man, who was left devastated after his ground
floor flat was burgled, has had some of his confidence
in human nature restored following a donation from the
Police Community Fund
The 44-year-old man lost the majority of his possessions
including a 28inch television, a portable television,
a freeview box, an iron, an ironing board, his bedding,
a Hoover and a significant number of CDs and DVDs as
a result of the burglary on Beaconsfield and the thieves
even emptied the victim’s fridge and freezer while
carrying out the burglary.
It had taken the man some time to save up for all his
possessions and to then find they had been stolen when
his flat was ransacked really upset him.
T/Superintendent Peter Davies, from the Command Team
in Telford, said:
“PC Angela Leech spent a lot of time with the
victim and was really touched by how genuinely devastated
he was about this burglary. The man had only been in
the flat for a couple of months and he’d made
it immaculate having saved up to furnish it with the
items that were then stolen.
“He had left his property at around 4pm on Saturday
6th February and then discovered the burglary on returning
home at around 10.30pm the same day. When police attended
the man was really shaken up and officers spent a lot
of time reassuring him that everything would be OK and
that his reaction was perfectly understandable.
“However, the man has not felt safe enough to
return to the flat and has been staying at a friend’s
house since the burglary as he has no desire to go back
to a property where he now feels so vulnerable.
“PC Leech was so touched by the man’s plight
that she applied to the Police Community Fund to see
whether any money was available to help the man get
back on his feet. She was delighted to find out the
Fund’s Trustees were also touched by the story
and last Friday the man was amazed to be presented with
£250 which he can hopefully use to rebuild his
life in the alternative accommodation he is hoping to
move into.”
The Police Community Fund is a registered charity,
which helps victims of crime, in particular those who
are most vulnerable or are in greatest need. Last year
the Fund supported more than 60 individuals and community
organisations and in the last ten years it has donated
£111,583 to various individual and local causes.
The Fund is funded by voluntary contributions and proceeds
of sales of seized property.
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