Mayor's fury after £4.5 million promised to improve Bridgnorth 'no longer exists'

Rachel Connolly, who also also sits on Shropshire Council as a member of the Labour Party, said she has become “increasingly exasperated” by the decisions of those based in Shrewsbury that “come at the expense of Bridgnorth”.

The latest row follows a Full Council meeting at Shropshire Council last Wednesday, when she asked the authority what had happened to the proposed £4.5 million promised in 2021.

The money was agreed at a full meeting in March that year as part of the council's wider financial strategy.

It had previously been agreed by the cabinet in recognition of the need to improve transport and the public realm in Shropshire's third largest market town.

Council officers earmarked the money to specific projects by working through the data from the public engagement exercise held in December 2021, which suggestions put forward that included a new town centre multi-storey car park, a new junction from the A458 to provide direct access to Oldbury Wells School, and active travel measures.

However, on Wednesday's Full Council meeting, councillor Connolly asked: “Could the Portfolio Holder for Finance please confirm in writing, from his verbal assurance, that the Council’s capital strategy programme of February 2024 retains its commitment to the aspirational scheme in Bridgnorth, with an investment of £4.5 million?”

Councillor Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for Finance, Corporate Resources and Communities, said: “The scheme originally identified as a ‘priority scheme’ in Bridgnorth was considered such as it had the potential to be self-financing. A business case to confirm this, however, was not completed. Without the ability to be self-financing the scheme cannot be deemed a priority scheme.”

He said this meant that the “funding, by definition, no longer exists”.

However, he added: “A new scheme is being considered and the value and financing for that scheme will be assessed.”

Councillor Connolly blasted the decision.

She said: "I am concerned at how Shropshire Council is prioritising its already limited spending and how Bridgnorth seems to be missing out."

She continued: "The Portfolio Holder for Finance was clear when he answered ‘the funding, by definition, no longer exists’. The money identified, promised and allocated by a vote in Council is not there and there is no longer £4.5 million to help regenerate Bridgnorth."

She added: "Whilst I will continue to speak up for Bridgnorth, I am becoming increasingly exasperated by the repeated decisions by those in Shrewsbury that seem to come at the expense of Bridgnorth’s services, residents and businesses.

"I have concluded that whilst Shropshire Council seems happy to take the money from selling off assets such as the old Council Offices and Highways Depot in our town, it seems loathed to invest any of that money back in our community."