"This is a bitter blow. The Government has shown that it has not listened to the people of Shropshire. We have already had ballots in three out of five districts, including within all of the Ludlow constituency, which has resoundingly rejected scrapping our district councils. People in Bridgnorth and South Shropshire do not want to move to a system with a remote Council in Shrewsbury and less democratic accountability. Even people in Shrewsbury do not want a Unitary authority.
The Government is deliberately making Shropshire go through the distraction and expense of a public consultation to straddle the local elections in May. The elections will therefore become a referendum on Unitary. I hope voters will use the ballot box to vote for councillors who represent their views on this issue. That will be the best way to teach the Government to listen to the people."
