From 9 April to 20 May Shropshire Council is carrying out a six-week consultation on proposals to introduce an annual subscription fee of £52 for the collection of garden waste – and about the future operation of the council’s five household recycling centres. All householders in the county use our waste services and I want to encourage as many people as possible to take part in this consultation.

A leaflet can be downloaded from the consultation webpage – www.shropshire.gov.uk/gardenwastebudget2024.

The consultation website is the preferred and most efficient way for people to give their views, but attached is a PDF of the consultation survey document – please print this out for anyone who specifically requests a hard copy survey form Like councils all over the country Shropshire Council is facing unprecedented financial pressure, mainly due to growing demand for social care – and we must make £62m of savings in 2024/25.We’re proposing to charge for green waste collections as we must look at other ways of creating income so that we can protect essential frontline services for those residents most in need. While garden waste collections in Shropshire are currently free, 80% of English councils already charge for this service and many have been doing so for several years.

As part of the consultation, we’re also asking how we can reduce the cost of running our five household recycling centres.

We’re asking if people would be willing to pay more than £52 a year if the additional money was used to keep all five of our household recycling centres open, and for views on whether the opening times of some HRCs could be reduced.

The consultation also asks for people’s thoughts about a new permit/booking system for people visiting a recycling centre to ensure that these are only used by people from Shropshire.

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