Whitchurch electricity plans could take eight years to complete

It comes as residents and councillors in Whitchurch said their hopes of the £18 million upgrade were starting to fade after months of silence from Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN).

Plans were announced last August to boost electricity in the town, with a lack of power previously blamed for job losses and the relocation of businesses.

Energy bosses said Wem and Oswestry would also benefit from the multi-million pound investment to improve the "capacity and performance" of the network, meeting needs up until 2026.

It was hoped that funding would be approved for the scheme by watchdog Ofgem in February, with detailed plans revealed as soon as possible.

But councillors said today they had not heard any news from the energy supplier despite hundreds of extra homes set to be built in the area.

Jane Holmes, a representative from SPEN, said: "Potential upgrades are over an eight-year period and we are in the early stages of planning investments. When we have a fuller delivery plan we will issue the details."

Shropshire councillor Gerald Dakin said his faith in the grand scheme had started to waver. He said: "I am not very optimistic. We keep chasing them but we have not heard anything yet."

Whitchurch mayor Rob Hewson said the plans were "great news" and said he hoped they would be approved as soon as possible.

And Wem mayor Mandy Meakin said she too hoped to see things move along. She said: "We haven't heard anything."

Oswestry, mayor John Gareth Jones said: "We would like to see things sped up to safeguard the electricity supply."

Civic leaders said they were desperate for news with hundreds more homes set for the north of the county, including 100 homes off Tarporley Road in Whitchurch, 130 south of The Hawthorns in Ellesmere, 57 homes south of Chester Road in Whitchurch, 30 homes in Baschurch, and another 30 homes in Hadnall.

Mr Dakin added: "We need jobs for all the people that would be coming to work here. If we cannot get the upgrade we will have to look at other options."

The lack of electricity supply was put forward as a reason for plans to build energy plants in the town, including Grocontinental's plans for an anaerobic digestion power plant opposite their site on the Whitchurch Business Park.

Meanwhile, last month councillors approved plans for a solar farm of nearly 80,000 panels at a former RAF field near Whitchurch.