Rethink is needed on merger proposal

LETTER - I write to object to the proposed amalgamation of the towns of Broseley and Much Wenlock into one ward for the new unitary authority. Each community is distinctive and active and not even slightly similar.

I am vice-chairman of the Broseley & Much Wenlock Community First Responders, the Neighbourhood Watch district co-ordinator, a member of the Bridgnorth & District Crime Prevention Panel and of the Bridgnorth & District Community Safety Task Group, all of which cover Broseley & Much Wenlock.

From that very close association with a wide range of residents in the two communities, I know that everyone I talk to disagrees with the proposal for amalgamation and would see its introduction as a backward step.

If the proposal is not revoked and the new boundaries changed to cover the two communities as they stand, it will simply confirm the perception that the changes have been based on statistics, bureaucratic convenience or blatant political advantage rather than concern for the interests of citizens. And thus seal the belief that there is no point in taking part in any political process because no one has the courtesy to listen and our input is ignored.

I trust the powers that be will speedily disabuse all of us in the two towns and, indeed, many other locations across the county that face the same insensitivity, of this by rethinking the boundary changes, basing them on our communities, not the apparent self-interests or indolence of an extremely small group of bureaucrats and politicians.

Malcolm MacIntyre-Read, Much Wenlock