'Know your boundaries': Anger over 'lack of consultation' on review

There have been few alterations to the rural parishes since 1974, while urban ones had their last big change in 1988.

Ahead of a Boundary Review Committee meeting last month, members were presented with draft recommendations that would see changes to town and parish councils ahead of the next local elections in 2027.

This included merging Lilleshall with Church Aston and Muxton to form a new parish council. However, at an extroadinary meeting, Lilleshall Parish Council expressed their “deep concern about the lack of meaningful consultation and transparency throughout this review process”.

“Members agreed that the views of residents and the parish council have not been adequately sought or considered, leading to a proposal that felt imposed rather than collaboratively developed,” reads the minutes.

“Members were relieved that the Boundary Review Committee had seen sense and had confirmed a complete U-turn to the proposal.”

Hollinswood & Randlay Parish Council also said there was no consultation about plans to create a new Nedge Parish Council that would include Hollinswood & Randlay as well as Stirchley.

“This would form an extremely large parish with only eight Councillors and members agreed that this would not be the best possible outcome for the residents,” reads the minutes of an extroadinary meeting.

“This would also have a significant effect on staff, budgets and the precept.”

Kynnersley Parish Council, meanwhile, were concerned about a recommendation to create a new Weald Moors Parish that would include Kynnersley, Preston Horton and Eyton.

“It was disappointing that democratic services at Telford & Wrekin Council had not communicated with parish and town councils throughout the process and the recommendations were only found ‘by accident’ when published as part of the boundary review committee agenda and there had been no communication with Preston, Horton Lane or Eyton residents,” reads the minutes of a meeting that the parish council held.

Initially, the final round of consultation was due to end on August 16, with the final recommendations being published on September 6.

However, this has now been extended until September 4.

A Telford & Wrekin Council spokesperson said: “Boundary reviews are a legally governed process which, once started, must be completed within 12 months.

“However, the timings of the recent Police and Crime Commissioner election, followed by the snap General Election, meant that we weren’t able to engage with as many stakeholders as we would have liked, particularly during the second round of consultation which had been scheduled for May.

“Rather than rush through any proposed changes to meet the 12-month deadline, the Boundary Review Committee has decided it would be better to consult on a proposal for there to be no changes and then repeat the process with a broader expectation of responses in the future.”