A Shropshire council is being urged to impose a recruitment freeze and cut back on non-essential spending as it battles to deal with the effects of the recession.

Bridgnorth Town Council will be asked to block future recruitment and not replace any staff that leave jobs within the authority and anyone who is taken on is to be offered only a temporary contract.

The call, from Councillor Norman Cottrell, also states that any workers taken on should only be employed where absolutely necessary and this should be on a temporary basis.

He wants the issues to be debated at the next meeting of Bridgnorth Town Council, which was taking place this afternoon.

In a resolution to the council, he states: “We should very carefully scrutinise every penny of our ratepayers’ money we spend and make absolutely sure we get only the best value for their money.

“We should stop any further staff recruitment and consider very seriously if any replacement from natural wastage in our staff is necessary. If replacement is required while the crisis lasts then it should only be on a temporary basis,” he adds.

Councillor Cottrell also calls on the council to cutback on expenditure and halt any plans for major projects.

“We should suspend all plans for further expansion of property acquisition and any expenditure in this direction until we are sure that we are well out of recession and can afford to consider major projects, like the strategic property initiative,” he states.

Councillor Cottrell said: “We are, undoubtedly, in the midst of one of the worst financial recessions in history and everyone of us has been hit by it in some way.

“At a time like this we cannot possibly expect our townspeople and ratepayers to provide us with further funds. Indeed we should be doing all we can to ease the tax burden born by them.

“We all have to face up to reality and cut our cloth accordingly,” he added.

Bridgnorth town clerk Rachel Humphries said the authority was always looking to achieve the best value for money.”We need to make sure we deliver best value and that has always been our objective,” she said.

By Brett Gibbons