Football club latest to complain over Shifnal road closure

Shifnal Town FC is the latest in a string of complaints over the road closure, and subsequent diversion on Coppice Green Lane.

Its chairman has now written a letter to Shropshire Council to explain the impact that the diversion is having on the club, which plays at Phoenix Park on Coppice Green Lane.

It says the long redirection is having a knock-on impact on visits to its clubhouse, which is on the B4379 within the town.

Coppice Green Lane closed on Monday and will remain closed for 24 hours a day until September.

Idsall School is on the road and the closure will last way beyond the school holidays.

Residents have now written to Shropshire Council about the closure, saying they were given just two days notice that the work would be going ahead.

The council says the work is to locally widen the road to enable two large vehicles to pass one another without having to ride up on the footway.

It says it has become an issue as the path is used by both school children to Idsall School and pedestrians walking from a new housing estate built further up the road into town.

The road and footway will be moved over and there are the associated works that go with this.

In his letter, Peter Bradley, chairman of the club, said: "For the second time in two years we have been severely affected.

"On the first occasion we had a prestigious night game ruined by the away fans giving up on getting to our ground due to the poor signage, which now is even worse.

"We are not mentioned on any of the signs, and actually on the approaches the signs say road closed ahead, causing several of the team from Eccleshall we played on Tuesday evening a great deal of grief.

"We are obliged to offer refreshments after the game and, as our clubhouse is in the town, our own team and certainly the visitors are deciding to go home, rather than navigate the diversion which is hitting our club finances.

"We have a home fixture next Tuesday August 8 at 7.45pm, I invite you to come along, and experience the difficulties we are having in getting people to and from the ground.

"I have sympathy with the residents of Coppice Green Lane, who have this to contend with every day."

Shropshire Council says that the works will extend beyond the six week school holidays and may well continue into October but that it won't know the full timescale until further into the scheme as there are public utilities apparatus that need moving and timescales are difficult to pin down.