Countryside group may cut Shropshire Council ties

James Williamson, chairman of Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership, said the body could seek new organisations to develop links with if proposed cost-cutting measures go ahead.

The manager role at the partnership looks set to be merged with other council roles. It would potentially leave the organisation with "a third of a manager", which Mr Williamson said would have a major impact on its effectiveness.

He has called for Shropshire Council to hold off scrapping the role – currently held by Phil Holden – as he believes savings could be made in other ways. Officials at Shirehall were today unavailable to comment on the claims.

Shropshire Hills AONB was founded in 1958 and covers much of south Shropshire from the Welsh border to the Clee Hills, stretching up to include The Wrekin.

The partnership that looks after the area, which is based in Craven Arms, is made up of representatives of various bodies and individuals involved with Shropshire countryside.

Mr Williamson said the partnership could break away from Shropshire Council to be hosted by another body altogether, but negotiations would need time to take place.

He said now the authority was proposing to merge the AONB partnership manager with one of its own development manager roles – and the resulting job might then be merged yet again under the title of "manager of outdoor partnerships".

"It will leave us with half a manager and potentially only a third of a manager," he said.

"Our contention is that Shropshire Council doesn't have the right to dispense with our manager. Shropshire Council should have come to us and said 'we want want to make some savings, can you help us?'.

"We don't think having a third of a manager is the right way to go about it and we would like to make savings in other ways.

"But they came to us just days before they made the announcement.

"We want Shropshire Council to stop the redundancy process in train and give us time to get together alternative suggestions."

He said: "The AONB brings in lots of money through things like EU grants, the Heritage Lottery Fund, grants from the Woodland Trust and Severn Rivers Trust. If we don't have a full time manager we probably won't have the ability or time to obtain all of these grants. We think it's extremely short sighted and not in the best interests of the AONB."

George Candler, Shropshire Council's director of commissioning, said: "As this relates to a staffing review, it would not be appropriate for Shropshire Council to comment."