Market Drayton community centre and public toilets schemes to be complete by the spring

The schemes in Market Drayton, which have been hit by delays, involve building the centre by Longlands play area and refurbishing the existing toilet block in Frogmore Road.

The centre, which has been made possible thanks to funding from Market Drayton Town Council and a £375,726 grant from the Big Lottery Fund, will include a kitchen, office and meeting area.

Last week it emerged an eye-catching shipping container design for the project, which is known as 'The Zone', has been ditched for a more traditional design after costs rose by about 20 per cent following the EU referendum result.

The toilets, which lie close to the town hall, were forced to close in August 2015 after a fire in the disabled toilet spread and caused damage to the walls, light fixtures and fittings.

Market Drayton Town Council had hoped to install a new standalone toilet block to replace the damaged units, but councillors are now pursuing a plan to refurbish the existing block.

An update on the projects was given at a meeting of the town council last week.

Councillor Matthew Erwin, mayor of Market Drayton, said: "The Zone is ongoing and we are hopeful to complete in late winter/early spring. Translating the project from planning stage to a physical building has highlighted areas that need to be addressed such as additional windows and light sources.

"The Zone team are highly motivated and although frustrated by the delays they are very excited for the future of this project and their input has been invaluable.

"The public toilets at the town hall have been delayed due to circumstances beyond our control, but we are forging ahead and hope to complete by spring 2018.

"As with The Zone it is essential we get this right as not only is it expensive but we need to ensure we make it as secure as possible in light of the vandalism that resulted in fire damage some time ago."

At the meeting councillors also heard a report from Laura Davies, from the Shropshire Housing Group.

"It was mainly based on the criteria for allocating housing, briefly there are four categories: high priority, gold, silver and bronze," Councillor Erwin said.

"Assurances were given that for example an honourably discharged service man or woman would fall into the gold category where as might be expected a single man living with his parents and working would be bronze.

"Also several members were made aware of Shropshire Housing Point where people can view available housing. Also highlighted was the difficulty in filling some properties due to rural isolation."