Pub owner and Shropshire councillor in hopes to join Bridgnorth Town Council

Business owner Andrew Corfield, landlord of the Crown on High Street, and councillor Elliott Lynch will both stand to represent East ward on August 1.

The election has been triggered following the resignation of Adrian Hinton.

Proposed by deputy mayor, councillor Ron Whittle, councillor Lynch currently represents Bridgnorth West and Tasley on Shropshire Council and said he wants to bring his knowledge and experience of working on the county council to the town.

Proposed by Sally Themans, of Love Bridgnorth, Mr Corfield grew up in the town and took over the pub in 2017.

The 45-year-old said he wants to bring the already strong community together for the benefit of Bridgnorth.

Positive action

"Over the last two years I've built up the pub and become involved with retailers around the town, the Love Bridgnorth campaign and helped promote community events as much as I can," he said.

"My interest in benefitting the community has grown and when I saw the vacancy on the town council come up, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to help out the council and give back to the community.

"I'm not a member of a political party – one of my main focuses would be channelling the great sense of community into positive action.

"I know there's various issues in the town, and pollution hotspots would be one thing to look at.

"I also think the town needs better infrastructure before we think about building hundreds of houses."

Councillor Lynch added that he will be actively campaigning to speak to residents, including at his regular surgery in Bridgnorth Library.

A poll will be taken from 7am to 10pm on August 1 to decide who will represent East ward on Bridgnorth Town Council.

Councillor Lynch has been contacted for further comment.