Councillors in Market Drayton go on 'blitz' in town centre highlighting issues that need fixing
Councillors in Market Drayton have been on a 'blitz' in the town highlighting issues that need fixing.
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The move comes as residents are being urged to upload any issues and problems in the region to FixMyStreet.
Tim Manton, deputy mayor and chair of Market Drayton Town Council's services and facilities committee, said the town council is putting service to the test to see whether issues are taken care of and fixed.
He and other councillors highlighted 61 issues within the town during their tour last week, and have highlighted concerns that not everything that is reported on FixMyStreet gets fixed - labelling it "hit or miss".
Mr Manton said the town council is set to hold a meeting with a Shropshire Council officer who has responsibility for FixMyStreet in the county this week to see whether their actions have worked and if the improvements have been made.
The councillor said: "We divided ourselves up and each councillor was assigned a different street to do. We went around blitzing it with mobile phones in hand and everything we could find in each street that needed doing we uploaded straight away to FixMyStreet.
"That ranged from road sign problems, potholes, road markings, there are a lot of issues with markings becoming non-existent in Market Drayton. We noted drainage problems, and it was teeming down with rain so that was good because it identified some of the blocked drains.
"We blasted within an hour and a half 61 reports to FixMyStreet.
"We have a meeting with an official from Shropshire Council who is responsible for some of this stuff, so what we are going to say if the stuff hasn't been actioned on, then why?
"Because, albeit FixMyStreet is a very good thing in principle, but there are a lot of moans and complaints from the general public that they upload things and it never gets done and fixed, so we are going to put that to the test.
"We are really trying to emphasise to the public too that this is something they can do. We are trying to demonstrate that it works and that things will get done.
"Ultimately that is how we improve our community, if we all muck in and get stuck in then that is how we improve it."
Elsewhere, town councillor Ian Nellins was delighted to confirm that street lights in the town centre will be replaced and improved.
Mr Nellins notified Shropshire Council of issues with some street lights in the area and said he received confirmation this week that they will be replaced and fixed.
"Hopefully they will be fixed very soon which is great," said the councillor.
