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23rd March 2024

You may be eligible for FULLY funded

  • Solid Wall Insulation
  • Cavity Wall Insulation
  • Roof Insulation  (flat roof and room-in-roof)
  • Air Source Heat Pumps
  • High Heat Retention Storage Heaters

Do you answer YES to ALL of the following?

  • Annual household income under £36,000, or receive a means tested benefit, or qualify through flexible eligibility* such as long term health condition, being in receipt of free school meals or a council tax rebate† † excluding single person rebate.
  • Don’t have mains gas heating
  • Own your home (private rented tenants can apply with landlord’s permission**)

Apply online, or get in touch via the details below

Telephone : 0800 112 3743

 Email       : ksw@mea.org.uk

23rd March 2024

Shropshire Council now have access to flood recovery grants money from the Government, covering businesses and residents affected by Storm Henk from Tuesday 2 January 2024.

Businesses and residents whose properties were affected by Storm Henk are being urged to apply for a series of grants by Sunday 7 April 2024.

If you were affected by Storm Henk, which affected the county between Tuesday 2 January 2024 and Friday 12 January 2024, you may be able to apply for the following grants to help with your immediate needs:-

  • Flooded households in affected areas can apply for up to £500, to give cash to help with immediate costs.
  • Households and businesses significantly affected by flooding will be eligible for 100% council tax and business rates relief for at least three months.
  • Small-to-medium sized businesses in affected areas will be eligible for up to £2,500 from the Business Recovery Grant, to help them return to business as usual.
  • Eligible flood-hit property owners will be able to apply for up to £5,000 to help make their homes and businesses more resilient to future flooding, via the Property Flood Resilience Repair Grant Scheme.

Delay in accessing the Flood Recovery Grant 

In order for Shropshire Council to offer these grants to communities, the Government eligibility criteria requires councils to demonstrate that over 50 properties internally flooded during Storm Henk.

The Government also set strict timeframes for grants to be paid out, which Shropshire Council need to adhere to.

To gather the information on the impacts of Storm Henk, the council has been working extensively with its community support teams, Environment Agency, town councils, parish councils, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service and other organisations to gather the number of known flooded properties across the county.

Following a community meeting held in Shrewsbury, additional affected properties were identified, to reach the 50 properties threshold.

As this information has taken some time to gather, the timeframe for residents to apply for the grants has been greatly condensed. As a result, applications need to be submitted as soon as possible, and before the deadline of Sunday 7 April 2024.

Businesses and residents need to register their application by Sunday 7 April 2024.

To register go to www.shropshire.gov.uk/stormhenkrelief  

23rd March 2024

Every year, amazing gardens throughout Shropshire open for the National Gardens Scheme which raises money for cancer and caring charities including Macmillan, Carer's Trust, Hospice UK, Parkinson's , Horatio's, The Queens Nursing Institute and Marie Curie.

The National Graden Scheme has been operating for nearly 100 years and Shropshire's involvement started right at the beginning.

Some gardens open for specific days, some only by appointment and some open as a group.

The Shropshire branch of the scheme raised over £82,000 for our beneficiaries in the 2023 season.

Nationally, in 2023 the scheme was able to make donations to the beneficiaries which exceeded £3.4 million pounds.

 The "Yellow Book" includes many of Shropshire's best gardens, some magnificent country estates and some hidden jewels owned by ordinary garden-lovers, offering a cost-effective day out, with beautiful gardens and home-made refreshments, all raising money for our good causes.

 A leaflet showing all the gardens open for charity in Shropshire is widely-available at libraries, tourist centres, garden centres and many other sources. 

Shropshire NGS volunteers are always on the look out for NEW gardens, NEW volunteers and anyone who would like to offer help with publicity, refreshments, delivering booklets and welcoming our lovely visitors.

We are especially keen to find towns or villages who might consider coming together to make a garden trail.

Looking forward to the 2025 season, we are keen to look to the future and recruit: -

More gardens.  Gardens especially owned/run by young people or people with diverse needs,  Community gardens,  Gardens in villages or towns that would be suitable for designing a garden trail around.

The National Garden Scheme is very aware of the benefits to health and well-being that making and visiting a garden can have. It is also likely that programmes in your communities have a connection to health, gardening, community engagement and local tourism.

We are keen to engage with all communities and would be especially interested in any groups who could benefit from our Community Garden Scheme which provides funds for local projects across the whole scheme. Two Community Projects in Shropshire were selected to receive funding from us in 2024.

We are always on the look out for volunteers to help with a multitude of tasks which range from publicity, distributing stationery, collecting entrance money and even parking.

The team in Shropshire ( as in all counties) is made up entirely of volunteers who give their time for free to raise funds for our beneficiaries.

Town and village garden trails and group garden openings are always very popular with our visitors . Whilst they are a chance for the scheme to raise the profile of the charity, raise additional income for our beneficiaries and get people engaged with the health and well-being benefits of being outside and planting they are also a great way to bring communities together however large or small they may be.

For more information about the work that The National Graden Scheme does please visit our website.

For any additional information about how the Shropshire Team works and to make any enquiries about opening a single garden, a village or a town trail or anything else please feel free to contact me.

Andy Chatting, Shropshire County Organiser, 

07546 560615, andy.chatting@ngs.org.uk

19th March 2024

Shropshire Council has been developing plans for a major new swimming, fitness and leisure facility to be developed at the Shrewsbury Sports Village on Sundorne Road (leaflet attached). The consultation for the proposed new swimming, fitness, and leisure facilities for the Shrewsbury Sports Village runs from the 15th March for 8 weeks to 8th May.

The Cabinet has now agreed that these plans should go out to public consultation, the following link and QR Code will give people more information and access to the consultation questionnaire. www.shropshire.gov.uk/sportsvillagetransformation

19th March 2024

Election of the Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Mercia Police Area

Latest Time for Submission of the Election Addresses of Candidates to the Police Area Returning Officer 12 noon on Friday 5 April 2024