North Shropshire Mayors look to new year ahead

North Shropshire's new Mayors said they hope to spend the year in office by promoting their towns and improving tourism.

Mayor of Ellesmere Town Council, Ryan Hartley, said: "We are trying to improve tourism in the town. It has obviously got the canal and the meres, and we are happy that we do get quite a lot of visitors.

"They tend to stay down by the Mere and what we need to do now is attract them into the town centre.

"We have got some great shops and places to eat in town. I really think it is important to attract our tourists to those."

Councillor Hartley, who has recently retired from his career as a vet, said he has been a town councillor for the last four years, having been in Ellesmere for 46 years.

He said: "As I was retiring, it is good to do a bit more and I'm pleased to give something more back to the town and put something back into the community."

Councillor Tony Neville was recently elected as the new Mayor of Whitchurch and said he is "proud and privileged" to accept the role.

He said: "Whitchurch is a wonderful town that is expanding yet it still maintains that community feel. In my opinion the principal reason is simply that the people of Whitchurch just love the town.

"I feel proud as I walk down High Street and folk stop to talk and the general feeling is that we have a town to be proud of.

"One of my aims during the next two years is to bring back the Civic Centre as the heart of the town, we have a fantastic facility that is under-used.

"The Town Council have voted for 20 shows to be booked over the next 12 months, the first of these was the ABBA tribute which was a success and created many, many complimentary comments so here’s hoping this can continue."

Wem Town Council's new Mayor, Councillor Edward Towers, said he was looking forward to the year ahead.

He said: "I am looking forward to it very much, it is a huge honour and privilege to serve the town of Wem. It is a great town with a massive heart. I want to listen to the people first of all, and to assemble a good action plan for the year that we can work on together.

"We want to try and enable the Wem Swimming and Lifestyle Centre to get its extension up. That will make a massive difference and really secure the future of the facility with a gym and viewing area as well as refreshments area. The centre still needs £30,000 and that can be raised by people giving what they can or businesses willing to sponsor."

Councillor Towers added that he also wanted to work with Shropshire Council in its asset transfers, moving facilities and services to the town and parish councils.

He said: "We want to find ways to take these on but we want Shropshire Council to be fair with us too. We have already raised our precept to the maximum the town can bear.

"I also am looking at ways forward for helping businesses and ways forward looking at the image of the town."