Shropshire Star comment: Thoughts turn to local elections
There is going to be life after Covid and there will continue to be a county to run, with a variety of challenges and opportunities for Shropshire Council.
With local elections coming up in around six months' time, the main parties already have their thinking caps on and are looking at the crucial issues which will face the council in the next decade, including transport, the economy, and housing.
Councillor Peter Nutting says his Conservative administration would have transport as a major priority. Among the visions are to create a parkway railway station on the outskirts of Shrewsbury, near Preston Island. This would link to a new interchange on the town's park and ride network.
Traffic problems in Shrewsbury town centre have been a continual headache, and this is one idea to try to address them, although there would need to be serious consideration of how an out-of-town railway station would dovetail into an overall network, and there would need to be some caution about any unintended effects it could have on the current railway station or, indeed, the town centre itself.
Also, it would depend on travellers buying in to the idea of using an out-of-town station as a hub for onward travel, as obviously the Preston Island area is not a journey destination in itself.
Councillor Nutting is also supporting Network Rail's plans to electrify the line between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, which would be a real revolution as Shropshire has long been disadvantaged through not being connected to the electrified railway network, although realistically it's not going to happen any time soon.
Other projects include working with Telford & Wrekin Council on plans to reinstate the railway line at the former Ironbridge Power Station site, a development which would have immense tourism potential.
Other parties are also starting to make their electoral pitches, but whichever administration comes to power will have much on its plate, including the vexed housing issue in a mainly rural county in which open land and beautiful landscapes are a cherished asset, yet where people still need homes.
It is good to see that our local politicians are not short of ideas because standing still in a world which is rapidly changing is not a viable option. Shropshire will need to adapt to prosper.
