Residents in Much Wenlock will go to the polls on December 18 to vote on whether more housing should be built in the town.
Council chiefs today confirmed the date for the special referendum which has been forced by a group of residents. The seven homeowners want a blanket ban on development until flooding and traffic problems in the town are sorted out. The referendum follows a public meeting last week.
The meeting decided that a referendum should take place over the issue.
Residents voted 43 to 3 in favour of holding the parish referendum under a rarely applied section of the 1972 Local Government Act.
It had to be held within 25 days of the meeting and parish clerk Anne Downes today confirmed that it would take place on December 18.
People will be able to vote between 4pm and 9pm in the Priory Hall.
Voting will be in person only, with no post or proxy voting. The outcome will not be legally binding on the district council, which is the planning authority, but would show the strength of feelings over the issues.
County councillor for Much Wenlock Dave Gibbon urged people to vote on the day to let councillors know what their views are.
He said: “It is entirely up to people whether they vote but I do think it is a very important issue. I would encourage people to vote to give me more strength to my armoury when voting at the council.
“I think the roads are more of an issue than flooding as the district council and Environment Agency should sort out the flooding issues anyway. We are working on sorting out traffic problems.
“I think the reasoning for holding this referendum is sound, although having a referendum in this country seems strange.
“I think we need a major relief road to help sort out the traffic problems we have in the town, especially around the medieval end.”
The group of seven residents who signed a petition to demand a public vote claim development has added to the town’s flooding problem, which saw more than 50 homes damaged this summer.
The group also argues the town is plagued by excessive amounts of traffic using an inadequate road infrastructure.
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2 Comments
…and residents of Hollinswood & Randlay voted last night in a similar referendum against the loss of large areas of Telford Town Park to development - so why isn’t that being reported?
traffic problem in wenlock ban traffic the streets have never been big enough for the last 30 years , flooding had nothing to do with home building etc it was down to the average run of the mill weather not taking place , the people who object have every right too, but the reasons they give are a bit spineless say why you realy do not want the extra houseing ????