Over 40 Friends of Dawley Town Hall will be invited to meet again this Wednesday (16 May) to continue discussions around arrangements for the revamp of the building and to formally agree their constitution and appoint of their chair person, vice chair, secretary and treasurer.

The meeting will take place on Wednesday 16 May from 5pm at Dawley House, Burton Street, Dawley.

There has been a hive of activity since Telford & Wrekin Council and Dawley Regeneration Partnership put their heads together to think up ways of securing the future of this well known building.

Local people have had several opportunities to show their support and give their views on how the Town Hall could be brought back to life and used by the community. Recently the local community were asked to nominate their top three designs for the town hall logo as designed by local students from Phoenix School.

Several tidy up events have taken place with more being scheduled and the Facebook www.facebook.com/dawleytownhall and Twitter @frienddawleytownhall pages are growing ever more popular among local people who are having their say online about how they would like to see the building restored.

Those who have not registered an interest in becoming a Friend of Dawley Town Hall can still attend the meeting which will provide residents with an opportunity to learn how they might be able to help to bring the building back into the heart of the community.

Plans for the restoration have gained the support and financial backing of a total of £140,000 from organisations including Telford & Wrekin Council, Capgemini, Dawley Regeneration Partnership, Great Dawley Parish Council, Phoenix School and Telford College of Arts and Technology. The partnership is currently seeking additional funding via a lottery bid.

Paul Wolfe, local resident and chair of the partnership group, said: “A series of meetings have taken place so far and on the 16 May we will come together again to organise the groups constitution and chair, secretary and treasurer for the friends group. The support from local people and businesses has been overwhelming and working together we will be able secure Dawley Town Hall’s future.

“ We are always on the look out for new friends and local businesses who could lend a helping hand, or those who can show their support in other ways.

Councillor Shaun Davies, cabinet member for Environment, Co-operative Council and Partnerships, said: “This project is all about working co-operatively with local people to celebrate our proud history and secure a bright future for Dawley Town Hall.

“The Friends of Dawley Town Hall is becoming an active group helping with fundraising, planning more activities to raise awareness and voicing their ideas of how we can move forward to bring the town hall back to life for all to enjoy.

“I would encourage anyone with a keen interest in this project to join us at the next Friends of Dawley Town Hall meeting on Wednesday evening.”

Those unable to attend the Friends of Dawley Town Hall meeting can still join Friends of Dawley Town Hall by contacting Telford & Wrekin Council’s Priority Action Team: 01952 382131 or by emailing email hidden; JavaScript is required

Telford & Wrekin Council today (TUE) launches two new dedicated Rapid Response teams to clean roads around the borough – which will be complemented in two parishes by dedicated environmental teams.

There will be one Rapid Response team to serve the north of the borough and one for the south and they will be able to deal with large amounts of litter, fly tipping, leaf and footpath sweeping and additional bin emptying.

The main aim of the two teams being established is to ensure that specific litter hotspots are managed effectively and additional routine litter picking in parts of the council’s priority wards.

Dedicated environmental teams will also be launched in two parishes as part of partnerships between the respective parish councils – St George’s & Priorslee and Great Dawley – and Telford & Wrekin Council.

The St George’s & Priorslee team consists of one worker and a modern apprentice and Great Dawley consists of one worker and two modern apprentices.

The partnership agreements, which run for the next five years, are another example of how Telford and Wrekin and its partners are coming together and working co-operatively to find new solutions for public services in the borough.

The two parish teams will cover enhanced service tasks including litter picking and maintaining areas not covered by Telford & Wrekin Council, weeding, planting, leaf fall cleaning, repairs to street furniture and cleaning alleyways and underpasses.

The council currently spends in the region of £1.8m on addressing litter problems and will soon be launching a community campaign where local residents can request a litter bin to be installed on any public area where they see litter as an issue.

Councillor Shaun Davies, cabinet member for Environment, Co-operative Councils and Partnerships, said: “We are committed to making Telford and Wrekin as clean and pleasant a place as possible and this launch of the two Rapid Response teams reflect that.

“I am delighted that our work to become a Co-operative Council has also led to two extremely positive parish-led partnerships to improve local environments in St Georges & Priorslee and Great Dawley.

“We already provide over 2,600 litter bins across the Borough and our soon to be launched ‘request a bin campaign’ will lead to a further 300 bins installed.

“This will make a real difference in reducing litter and will allow us to listen and respond to local litter related issues raised by the community.”

An innovative new partnership is to help make the Dawley area even cleaner and greener.

Great Dawley Parish Council and Telford & Wrekin Council are putting £25,000 and £12,500 a year respectively to a new environmental team to work in the parish.

This will employ three staff, an Environmental Maintenance operative and two apprentices, on work to help keep the Great Dawley parish even cleaner and greener.

The partnership agreement, which will run for the next five years, is another example of how Telford & Wrekin and its partners are coming together and working co-operatively to find new solutions for public services in the borough.

This work will be over above environmental work that Telford & Wrekin Council already does across the borough.

The team will cover tasks including litter picking areas and maintaining areas not covered by Telford & Wrekin, weeding, planting, leaf fall clearing, repairs to street furniture and cleaning alleyways and underpasses.

Money from the scheme may also be used to help fund new gateway signs, improving shrub and flower displays and improving surfacing.
Cllr Brian Duce, chairman of Great Dawley Parish Council, said: “Our residents are very proud of where they live and having a good clean local environment is very important to them. There will be on-going monitoring of the project to ensure we obtain value for money.

“This partnership is great way for us to ensure that our efforts are focused in the parish on the areas that are a priority for us and we are making the most of the combined resources of both councils.”

Cllr Shaun Davies, cabinet member for Environment, Co-Operative Council and Partnerships, said: “This is another great example of how willing an ever growing range of partners are to come together to give better public better local services.

“We are encouraging all parish and town councils to look at this approach and are confident that many more will follow Great Dawley’s approach.

“At a time when we face unprecedented cuts in Government funding, we have to find new ways of delivering the services that local people want and that will help make the borough cleaner and greener.

“This scheme also has the added advantage of creating new training opportunities for young people and will support our wider drive for apprenticeships across the borough.”

Telford & Wrekin Council has stepped in to ensure part of Dawley will still have a bus service – after a combination of circumstances meant the service would otherwise have stopped.

The council has decided to extend its current community bus service to Bank Road and Cemetery Road so that it runs five days a week between Dawley Bank and Dawley town centre.

The problem with the service to Bank Road and Cemetery Road arose after the commercial bus company Arriva changed the route of its 66 service.

The new route would not have gone up Bank Road and Cemetery Road and instead would have travelled up Station Road before turning left on to Milners Lane and then on to Telford town centre.

However, the start of this new service was scheduled for delay because of a seven week closure of Milner’s Lane as a result of work by Severn Trent Water. This meant Arriva buses for the time being would have continued using the old route.

Unfortunately, Seven Trent today decided to postpone the road closure – meaning Bank Road and Cemetery Road would have had no service from Monday.

Therefore Telford & Wrekin Council has come up with the short term solution of extending the community bus service to ensure Bank Road and Cemetery Road will still have a service. The bus will complete six round trips a day every day from Monday to Friday.

Councillor Hilda Rhodes, cabinet member for Transport and Community Protection, said: “What’s happened was unfortunate and unforeseen and we have therefore had to act quickly to ensure both Bank Road and Cemetery Road continue to have a service.

“It was only today that Severn Trent decided to delay the road closure which means the Arriva bus will use the new route as of Monday because Milner’s Lane will be open.

“We realise that the alternative we have put in place means that residents will have to change buses when they get to Dawley in order to get to Telford town centre and we are sorry for any inconvenience this causes. Alternatively the 88 service goes direct to Telford Town centre from Concorde and Milner’s Lane.

“As a result, we will be speaking with the parish council and Arriva to monitor and review the situation when Severn Trent start their road works and we will look at developing a possible long term solution at that stage.”

People need to register to use the community bus service. Forms are available on the bus from the driver.

Friday 20th April 11:30 – 12:30 @ Hartshorne Court

Falls prevention, keeping your balance, gentle aerobics, dance yourself fit!

Come along and laugh with Leigh and her gang!

Thursday 19th April 12:30 @ Hartshorne Court

Come and enjoy a freshly prepared healthy dinner here on scheme for £2.50!

Wednesday 18th April 11am meet @ Hartshorne Court

Leaving Hartshorn Court at 11:am we will be taking a very leisurely stroll around Dawley Park. We will be joined by the History Group who will be asking to share your thoughts and memories of the park.

A complimentary buffet will be provided afterwards for those who participate.

Tuesday 17th April 12:30 @ Hartshorne Court

Come and enjoy a freshley prepared healthy dinner here on scheme for £2.50!

Monday 16th April 1:30 – 15:00 @ Hartshorne Court

Free advice to start you on your journey towards feeling better.

Tips on how to give up smoking, lose weight, becoming more active, drink sensibly, eat healthily.

Come along to see how you can receive ongoing 1-2-1.

The project is being organised by Paul Wolfe from the Dawley Regeneration Partnership and Lucy Corbett (Telford & Wrekin Council). They have had a fantastic response from the schools and groups – lots of really high quality pictures. This is a really good example of the type of project that could be replicated across the Borough Towns if people are keen. You are urged to visit Dawley over the next couple of weeks to have a look at the pictures.