A Shirehall task group has given vital backing to the Meals on Wheels service in Shropshire with a call for hot meals to continue to be provided to the elderly and other vulnerable people.

Shropshire Council finance chief Laura Rowley has quit her £125,000-a-year job amid a massive shake-up of Shirehall senior management.

Shropshire is “very, very lucky” it has not had its own Baby P case because of growing workload pressure on council staff and funding cuts, it was claimed today.

Free sandwiches are being scrapped before the start of Shropshire Council committee meetings in a bid to save thousands of pounds.

A number of “summits” are to be held to give people the chance to help shape Shropshire Council spending plans. The meetings will be attended by the whole Shirehall cabinet.

Letter: When the Unitary Authority was proposed, many warned of what would happen. More bosses, more managers, more empire building and more remote aloofness of self important councillors.

Civic leaders have criticised Shirehall bosses after it was confirmed a community skip scheme in north and south Shropshire is to be scrapped.

Shropshire people are among the most wasteful in the country with each person producing six times their own body weight in rubbish every year, new figures show.

A third of town hall chiefs walk away with a golden goodbye worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, according to a survey by the local government spending watchdog.

Shirehall bosses are working on a £1.5 million scheme to replace equipment at Shrewsbury Crematorium in order to cut mercury emissions caused by dental fillings.

Plans to cut Shropshire’s carbon footprint over the long term are set for a review by a council watchdog to ensure they meet Government targets and do not end up costing taxpayers.

Shirehall leader Keith Barrow has pledged to be “open and honest” as Shropshire Council and the rest of the public sector prepares for a funding squeeze and a decade of spending cuts.

Shirehall officials today denied claims by a consumer champion that they have set targets for issuing parking tickets to drivers in Shropshire.

Shirehall councillors claimed “pay” totalling more than £669,000 last year, new figures show.

Wood you believe it? A tree near Lake Vyrnwy has been declared the joint tallest in the UK.