Saved: Four residents step up to revive Shropshire parish council

No names were put forward for any of the nine seats on Bromfield Parish Council in South Shropshire ahead of the local elections in May 2017.

But after almost a year of uncertainty seven new councillors have taken the first steps towards restoring it.

At the time of its collapse, the council was under fire for failing to prepare an annual return for the 2016/17 financial year.

Shropshire Council appointed Ludlow councillors Andy Boddington and Viv Parry, along with David Evans, who represents Church Stretton and Craven Arms, as stand-in parish councillors.

They have now been joined by four residents of the parish who were co-opted into their roles at a public meeting, where Clive Leworthy was also appointed as clerk.

Work is now under way to bring the council back to life, including efforts to put together a website to allow people to access information about its work online.

Mr Leworthy, a previous town councillor for Craven Arms, said the idea was to restore the organisation to a position where it can benefit the local community.

He said: "I am pleased to take over as the new clerk and we were very pleased to see four local residents join the three Shropshire councillors to form the new council.

"We are currently working to set up a new website and get other arrangements in place. It is quite an interesting project to help get the parish council back to where it needs to be for the benefit of the community."

The new council hopes to meet quarterly.