THREE Bishop’s Castle roads will still be resurfaced this year despite Shropshire Council moves to postpone other projects to save money.

Work on Bishop’s Castle’s Church Street, High Street and Market Square is due to take place before the end of March, and is expected to go ahead despite cost-cutting elsewhere by Shropshire Council.

The confirmation comes as the authority has confirmed that 11 projects have been postponed by a year to help with making huge savings.

READ MORE: Letter: Cyclists are meant to use the roads not pavements

Dan Morris, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for highways, said that the postponements are part of the measures being undertaken to help save millions of pounds in the budget.

OTHER NEWS:

He said: “It’s no secret that we have to save £62.5m in the current financial year and we’re now at a critical point to secure our future financial sustainability.

“We’re working hard to balance the books and we have to examine every pound we spend to prioritise services for people who need us most.

“In many cases we will have no choice but to reduce the level of service we offer – and this includes highways maintenance.

“We will be resurfacing 36 roads this year, but we’ve agreed that work on a further 11 can instead be carried out in the next financial year, that is after April 2025, helping us to make savings this year.

“We have an obligation to ensure that our roads are safe for all road users and each of these 11 schemes has undergone a safety assessment and deemed to be safe for at least one more winter.

“If any safety issues do arise in the coming months these will be assessed and prioritised in line with the council’s procedures and repairs carried out if necessary.”

Get in touch

Share your views on this story by sending a letter to the editor. To get in touch email news@countytimes.co.uk, or fill in the form on this section of our website.

Major works to be postponed include Whitchurch High Street, the B5607 in Baschurch and roads in Ruyton-XI-Towns.

However, Shropshire Council confirmed two major road resurfacing projects in Oswestry will still go ahead in 2024/25 as planned, in Oswald Road and King Street.

And in St Martins, Colliery Road will also still be resurfaced.