Author: Randall

Boundary Commission for England proposes moving Hodnet into Newport and Wellington’s constituency

On 8 November Shropshire Council announced a final opportunity for residents to influence proposals for revised constituency boundaries to be presented to the Speaker of the House of Commons in July next year.

This may be the first you have heard about it, but as residents in the Hodnet ward will be significantly affected, it is time to sit up and take notice of what is being proposed! There is a short and final opportunity to comment on the proposal, which is to move Hodnet and Cheswardine from the North Shropshire constituency and place them into the Wrekin one, with Newport and Wellington.

Members of the public have until Monday 5 December to comment on this proposal.

The existing and proposed boundaries are shown on this map, which has been adapted from one on the Boundary Commission for England’s [BCE] website. You can access it by typing in your postcode on this page. Alternatively, a more detailed PDF map is available from the BCE website.

A guide to the 2023 Review of Parliamentary constituencies is also provided on the BCE website.

BCE Pprposed Wrekin constituency

A record of comments made in previous stages of the consultation is also available – again you will need to enter your postcode or select “North Shropshire” in the “Existing Constituency” to filter the comments once they have loaded. Amongst them is one submitted by Hodnet Parish Council:

Comment BCE-79197

Hodnet Parish Council wishes to object to leaving the North Shropshire constituency and becoming part of Newport and Wellington. This will cut off the parish from its local hub. The village has ties with the local North Shropshire market towns, such as Whitchurch, Wem and Market Drayton. The local schools, shops, recreation & clubs accessed by the parish are from the North Shropshire towns. We don’t have local connections with Newport, Wellington and Telford so this proposal will affect our parish greatly.

It is hard to disagree with the Parish Council’s sentiments. However, other drawbacks to this proposals should also be considered. One is that the MP will need to work with two sets of Local Authority members and staff, and almost certainly two different systems. Further, there is no central community location in the section of Shropshire the MP will represent for them to hold surgeries and the like. Whilst thinking about such things it also means that local residents will have to travel to Newport or Wellington, both very different communities to Market Drayton, to participate in political events such as hustings.

It is unclear at this stage how much impact a large number of submissions from a local community will have on the BCE proposals. However, if this is the first you have heard about them, and like the Parish Council and other respondents (including this author) you think they show a lack of understanding of community dynamics, then please consider making the effort to respond – doing so can take less than five minutes. You can do this on the BCE ‘Have your say here’ section.

Remember that the opportunity to comment ends on Monday 5 December.

Wollerton’s Defibrillator Ready for Use

Wollerton Bowls and Social Club are pleased to announce that the community accessible defibrillator is now installed and available for use by local residents.

An event was held on Friday 13 May to thank our major donors for their support. Pictured left to right are: Randall Hardy, Club Chair; Jamie Richards, AEDdonate; Andrew Davies, Drayton Action for Health; Richard Smith, Downstream Energy Ltd; Cllr. Lin Sherwin, Hodnet PC; Michael Morgan, Hodnet Charities and Club Treasurer.

Randall says, “We appreciate all the support which has been shown for this project, which has meant that it has reached completion in a remarkably short amount of time. Besides thanking the charities and a local business for their support, I would also like to express appreciation to club members and local residents whose contributions have played a significant part in enabling this successful outcome.”

To find out more about the club and how to get involved visit their page on this site.

A Community Defibrillator for Wollerton

Wollerton Bowls & Social Club are working alongside AEDdonate to have an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) installed on their club house. Installing this would mean that, through a link to the Local Ambulance Service, the defibrillator would be available to the local community 24/7. At present, the nearest community AEDs are in Hodnet and Marchamley. However, if one could be made available in the village, access times would be much shorter.

WBSC is asking Hodnet Parish Council and a small number of local charities to contribute to the cost of this life-saving community asset. However, we also feel that it is important for members of the immediate community to be able to share in this project through contributing to the cost, and in due course participating in training on how to use a AED, should the need arise.

Update: 30 March

We are pleased to report that due to generous donations from local charities and businesses, as well local people we are now in a position to place an order with AEDdonate. We have been informed that the defibrillator should be installed in May.

Thank you to everyone who responded to our appeal.


To find our more about Wollerton Bowls & Social Club please visit our page on this website.

Hodnet Medical Centre – Dispensary

The Medical Practice has posted the following clarification on it’s website today (25 Mar. 2020):

The dispensary is still open for you to collect your repeat prescriptions

Please could you leave 5 days rather than the usual 3 days before you collect your repeat as due to the current situation our dispensary staff are extremely busy.

Due to government guidelines we are unable to dispense more than one month’s worth of prescriptions at a time, this is to stop people stockpiling and creating drug shortages for everyone else. 

Hodnet Medical Centre – Important Update About Morning Surgeries

The surgery has posted the following announcement on its website on Monday 23 March.

Until further notice the morning “drop-in” surgeries will be “phone-in” only!

The official notice reads:

Changes to Morning Surgery

Morning surgery will now be done over the telephone, it will still be

between 8.30am and 9.45am.

If you do arrive at the surgery, you will be offered a telephone consultation only

We do have some telephone consultations available to book with our clinicians, please call us to make an appointment if you do not want to wait. 

A further update has been posted today (Tuesday 24 March, 2020):

In order to minimise the spread of Coronavirus, until further notice morning surgery will initially be carried out by telephone call. This is a precautionary measure to minimise the amount of patients sitting together in our waiting area and reduce contacts and risk for our staff and patients. 

  • Please do not come inside the surgery to book in to morning surgery
  • Ring the surgery to register your request for a consultation before 9.45am
  • In order to direct your consultation you will be asked for brief details of your symptoms
  • You will be telephoned back by a doctor or nurse, they will decide if you need to be seen.

For information about the centre’s dispensary, please see this post.

Delays Expected on Shrewsbury Road, Market Drayton – 12 to 17 Jan, 2020

Roadworks Sign

Following disruption at the A53 roundabout by Mullers on Friday, Hodnet residents travelling into Drayton should expect to encounter further delays this week.

Further roadworks are planned on Shrewsbury Road between the A53 roundabout and the one at Longford Turning.

The work includes carriageway repairs, gully emptying and tree trimming.

For the first four days of the works Shrewsbury road will remain open, with traffic being controlled by temporary lights. The road is scheduled to be completely closed however, on Friday 17 January.

Details and the planned diversion route can be viewed on the One Network website.

Marchamley Water Mains – Update 11 November

Marchamley residents should soon receive a copy of the following letter from Severn Trent Water, in connection with the on going work in the area:


Dear Customer,

Important Update:

In order to connect the new water pipes up from the School Lane junction down towards Marchamley Hill, we’ll need to carry out night work on Wednesday the 20 November 2019 at approximately 22:00 due to the low water pressure this work will create. This work will then continue for several hours into Thursday morning.

Due to the work that needs to be done before and after the night work, we will be closing this section of road on 18 November 2019 to 23 November 2019. We’re really sorry about this, but it will mean we keep everyone safe and get the work done as quickly as possible. Access to homes will be maintained at all times and there will be a signposted diversion route in place as you approach the working area from all routes.

Please be assured that we, and our contract partner Heartlands, will be doing everything we can to minimise the disruption and get the work finished as quickly as we can. I’m very sorry in advance for any disruption this work causes.

We appreciate your patience during the last phase of this scheme.

Stay up-to-date with the work
* Get in touch with me Catherine Webb, on 07971 304604

Yours faithfully
Catherine Webb
Communications Officer, Severn Trent

New Look Website Coming Soon

We are very pleased to inform our readers that our new website design should be up and running in the next two or three days.

As we announced a while ago the new layout is designed to make the site more accessible on devices with smaller screens such as smart-phones and tablets.

Please be patient whilst the switch-over is completed. Of course there may be a few teething troubles, and if you come across anything that doesn’t work well, please email the new webmaster.

For now Randall Hardy, who has looked after the website since it started is remaining as its main editor, but is intending to step down from that role by the end of the year. A replacement editor-in-chief is desperately needed. If you want to know what that involves, please email Randall.