"I am bitterly disappointed that this Government will now compel Shropshire to scrap its district councils against the wishes of the people of Shropshire. So much for the new 'listening' Prime Minister. He has ignored overwhelming opposition to this costly reorganisation from both the opinion ballots in January and from the resounding rejection of the idea in May's local elections.
In Shropshire a strong case was made for existing councils working closer together. The Government has instead jumped the gun of its own legislation to force unitary status on rural shire counties. The courts may rule this out of order when the judicial review case is heard in September. In the meantime I feel sorry for the continuing uncertainty for those staff of the district councils who may now be working out their jobs."
