Councillor demands answers on closure of Bridgnorth maintenance site

Julia Buckley, the Labour Shropshire councillor for Bridgnorth West & Tasley was raising the question of the proposed closure at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday).

She was also asking why Bridgnorth residents were assured a year ago the depot was only closing on a temporary basis due to health and safety issues at another site, and claims the closure will impact on response times to maintenance requests.

In a letter to the council she said: "One year ago the cabinet member for highways categorically assured me and the other residents of Bridgnorth that our highways depot was closing only temporarily due to some health and safety issues at another site.

"One year later cabinet is proposing a permanent closure, to sell off the asset and plug a hole in the Conservative’s budget deficit.

"Since the closure, Bridgnorth residents have raise the issues of injuries arising from reduced gritting on strategic pavements to schools; Inadequate quantities, slow re-stocking of them and appropriate location of sandbags during flooding; Slow responses to repair requests and reports 'Closed down' but not fixed by highways maintenance and dangerous pot holes and pavement surfaces."

Concerns have previously been raised over the closure regarding emergency responses to flooding, repairs to roads, and gritting.

Councillor Buckley was also asking why the legal requirement for consultation has not been fulfilled, and why the elected Shropshire members for Bridgnorth were not shown the report before it was published.

Highways cabinet member Richard Marshall said they had monitoring and evaluated data over the last 12 months and there had been no drop-off in performance or increased risk to the public as a result of the closure during that time.

He said: “The result of this review is that there has been no impact on service delivery as a result of the interim closures

"Indeed, since Bridgnorth and Hodnet depots were closed, we have seen significantly improved performance and efficiency in all of the main depot service areas.

“There is therefore a very strong case for their permanent closure, and it’s in fact typical of a council area of Shropshire’s size to be serviced by two to three highway depots.

“Some local councillors have voiced concerns regarding the closure but this is not backed up by performance measures which show improvements in all metrics."