Campaigners today urged Shirehall bosses to hold council meetings at night instead of in the day, claiming the current times meant working people were unable to attend.

Officials from Shropshire & Telford Trades Union Council have written to Shropshire Council chief executive Kim Ryley to call for more council meetings to be switched to evening slots so more members of the public can go.

They claim people who may want to attend but cannot because they are at work were left feeling “isolated and disenfranchised” because of the “barrier”.

In her letter, secretary Catherine Coggans-Seddon claimed Shropshire Council was one of 16 unitary authorities out of 55 in England that failed to offer meetings open to the public in the evenings.

Making her request for meetings to be rescheduled to accommodate more members of the public, she said: “Council meetings are open to the public in order to encourage openness, transparency and accountability.

“However, because Shropshire Council meetings are held only during the day, many Shropshire residents who would like to witness their council and democracy in action are unable to do so due to working commitments.

“This is a barrier to their experience of local democracy and discourages their involvement as they are not made to feel welcome.

“I urge you to consider rescheduling council meetings to the evenings to encourage transparency, openness and modernise local democracy so that those workers who are unable to observe decision-making in action through no fault of their own do not feel isolated and disenfranchised.”

Many of Shropshire Council’s meetings begin at 10am and 2pm.

The authority holds a number of local joint committee meetings across the area about three times a year in the evenings.

These meetings are designed to give residents, plus town and parish councillors, a forum for discussing issues with Shropshire Council members.

Elsewhere in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Council schedules many of its important open meetings for evening slots, often beginning at 6.30pm to allow the working public to attend.

Simon Alton, a spokesman for Shropshire Council, said: “We have received the letter and will consider it and reply in due course.”

By Tom Johannsen