A councillor from near Bishop’s Castle said she hopes her recent award of an MBE will raise awareness of issues facing rural communities.

Heather Kidd the Liberal Democrat Shropshire Councillor for Chirbury and Worthen said she was surprised when she

“Well I was quite overwhelmed, I was shocked,” said Councillor Kidd. “I’m really pleased that rural communities have been recognised. That’s what it’s about for me because we are so often forgotten.

Councillor Kidd has said that she hope the awarding of her MBE will put a spotlight on the issues facing rural areas such as the lack of affordable housing and inadequate healthcare.

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“It is very expensive to live in these areas,” said Councillor Kidd. “In Bishop's Castle its often 11 times the local wage to buy a house. We can’t build there at the moment, here in Chirbury it is similarly expensive and rentals are really expensive.”

“There’s access to health services, we have to travel miles and miles for. Now we have Bishop's Castle hospital having its beds closed. It’s one thing after another and were expected to be able to drive 30 miles for a service people don’t have cars public transport is awful.”

“Our ambulance response times out here are very poor, we have never had a single target ever met on land ambulances.”

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Councillor Kidd has said that she will continue to campaigning as she has done for the last 25 years.

“Nobody shouts loudly enough about it. When people think about rural communities they think about the towns they don’t think about the communities stretched right across the countryside.

“It’s a huge concern and its going to get worse because all councils including Powys County Council and Shropshire Council have got huge funding pressures because there is not enough grant coming in from central government.

“We share services so many times across the border and it it’s not going to get better as it is and unless someone stands there and keeps drawing attention to it, we will all be ignored.”