Shropshire Council

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The ceremonial county and unitary authorities from 1st April 2009; the larger "Shropshire" unitary authority (1) and Telford and Wrekin (2)

Shropshire Council is the unitary authority which will cover most of the ceremonial county of Shropshire, in the West Midlands of England. It will be formally established on April 1, 2009, upon the abolition of the non-metropolitan districts of Bridgnorth, North Shropshire, Oswestry, South Shropshire and Shrewsbury & Atcham. The other unitary authority in Shropshire, covering the remainder of the county, is Telford and Wrekin Borough Council, which was established in 1998.

The new council will inherit almost all of the properties and assets of the former district councils and county council. Symbols and a motto for the new authority have yet to be decided on.

1 The council
2 Main positions
3 Sub-divisions
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] The council

The new council will at first be the existing Shropshire County Council (which is the "continuing authority") until elections take place in either May or June 2009. It is proposed that the council will, as from the first elections, consist of 75 councillors from mainly single-member wards. The issue of the number of councillors and the ward boundaries is currently under consideration by the Boundary Commission for England. It is planned that in most instances the ward boundaries will follow parish boundary lines, with the main exceptions being in the larger towns, where the parish will contain more than one ward. Shrewsbury for example, which is planned to be parished in 2009 as part of the unitary proposals, will contain 17 wards.

The council's seat will be at the Shirehall in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire.

[edit] Main positions

There will be three major positions created for the unitary authority. They are:

Chairman - who will be the ceremonial head of the council
Speaker - who will chair the full council meetings
Leader - who will be the leader of the controlling political group

The Leader and 9 additional portfolio holders will form the Cabinet. This will effectively be the executive branch of the authority.

[edit] Sub-divisions

The area covered by the unitary authority is expected to be sub-divided into three areas, each of which will have an area committee which will deal with more local matters such as licensing and development control. The areas are expected to each consist of council wards with a combined representation of 25 councillors, therefore each area will be roughly equal in population. The councillors who represent an area's wards will then form the area committee for that area.

It is currently proposed that the areas will more or less run along the following lines:

North - consisting of the present districts of Oswestry and North Shropshire
Central - consisting of the present district of Shrewsbury & Atcham
South - consisting of the present districts of South Shropshire and Bridgnorth

Where the area committees will meet has yet to be formally arranged.

This is similar to the arrangements at the neighbouring Powys County Council, where the area covered is sub-divided into three areas, each consisting of a previous administrative division.