Call for council to invest in repairing north Shropshire roads

In last month's elections the Conservative party was returned with a reduced majority and Councillor Lezley Picton became the new leader. She said that fixing Shropshire's roads would be the first priority for her administration.

Roy Aldcroft, who was recently re-elected as county councillor for Market Drayton East and as the town mayor, said that Market Drayton's roads need urgent work in many places.

"There is the roundabout at the end of Maer Lane connecting to Cheshire Street, which is getting pummelled by heavy goods vehicles. We've had a manhole cover which is now exposed fully, which I fear will eventually drop into its own hole.

"I've reported that repeatedly as an emergency job – that hasn't been done at all or even looked at, which is very frustrating.

"There are two potholes outside 24 Great Hales Street which everyone seems to be ignoring, that has been reported god knows how many times."

He also pointed to potholes in the Towers Lawn area, and said that several potholes in the town were identified so long ago that the white paint they were circled in has faded away.

Nearby villages including Norton-in-Hales and Woore also have patches of poor surfacing.

Complaints

Complaints about the state of the roads are common across Shropshire and recently led one councillor to take matters into his own hands.

Last week Councillor Dave Tremellen for Highley, frustrated with the situation, shared the email addresses for various council officials in charge of the roads, resulting in them being bombarded with messages.

Councillor Aldcroft was also part of the previous administration. Asked whether he felt that the council under its previous leadership had disproportionately allocated resources to Shrewsbury, a theory often raised in Market Drayton, he said: "There is an element of truth to that."

He continued: "I'm aware that Steve Charmley [the council's new highways boss] and Lezley Picton are making highways their main priority but I would love to see some actual responses to all of those requests we've put in to the highways department.

"I think it's high time the north of the county got a fair share of the attention. It's a situation where if you shout the loudest you get the most done."

He also said that Shropshire is consistently underfunded by Government as a rural county, despite being the largest landlocked shire in England.