Shropshire Council’s new Lib Dem administration marks first 100 days
Today, Tuesday 2 September, marks 100 days since the Full Council meeting where Councillor Heather Kidd was elected the new Leader of Shropshire Council following elections in May 2025.
On that day, Councillor Kidd became the first Liberal Democrat to lead the unitary council after her group secured an overall majority on the council.
Since then, it has been Councillor Kidd’s and her administration’s mission to drive change that people can see and feel, focussing on three key priorities which represent the areas they want to make significant improvement to over the next four years.
These priorities include:
- Fixing more potholes and improving the state of Shropshire’s 3,200 miles of roads.
- Improving customer service across the council, making it more responsive and easier to do business with.
- Better and closer working with town and parish councils who can help take on some service services from Shropshire Council or may be better placed find simple solutions to issues in their area.
Councillor Heather Kidd, Shropshire Council’s Leader, said:
“As the new administration for Shropshire Council, we have already demonstrated that we are doing things differently. We said that we would listen to our residents, and act on what they said in a meaningful and positive way.
“In the run up to the local elections in May, we spoke to people about what was important to them as residents, and what they felt their priorities were for the council. We learned that people want to see change and Shropshire as a council that works for them, not the other way round.
“During our first 100 days we’ve been focusing on three priority areas and we’re confident that we now have a council that looks and feels very different to before.
“It’s a great start however, we won’t stop here. We’ve got plenty more to do to continue to change Shropshire Council for the better.”
In the last 100 days, led by its new administration, the council has:
- Filled 7,970 potholes – with a 55% reduction in the number of potholes outstanding, compared to the same period last year.
- Introduced an additional highways team to tackle potholes – with the team repairing 564 potholes since the end of June.
- Carried out a major scheme to repair and future-proof the A488 Hope Valley following five landslips.
- Rolled out in-person customer services, Shropshire Local to more places across the county including rural areas like Bishop’s Castle. This is in addition to the five Shropshire Local sites already in place.
- Reduced the average wait time on the phone when people call our customer services. Over the past 10 weeks, the average wait time for calls to be answered has been under eight minutes.
- Engaged with town and parish councils across the county, receiving over 130 responses to calls for information and signing Memorandum of Understanding’s (MOUs) with two town councils, Shifnal Town Council and Shrewsbury Town Council setting out how the council is going to work more closely with them in the future.
It’s been a busy time for the council too. In the last 100 days they’ve also:
- Achieved an Ofsted rating of Outstanding for the council’s Children’s Services, as well as Good and Outstanding ratings for five of its children’s homes.
- Playing a pivotal role in advancing the Marches Forward Partnership—a cross-border collaboration with Herefordshire, Powys, and Monmouthshire councils. The partnership is focused on unlocking investment, driving innovation, and delivering transformative projects across the Marches region.
- Built much-needed affordable homes for local people in rural Chirbury, an exemplar site with the intention to replicating this across the county.
- Started work to clear a site on the outskirts of Ludlow to build a new pyrolysis plant which will produce what has been named a miracle substance, biochar.
- Continued to champion the River Severn Partnership Advanced Wireless Innovation Region (RSPAWIR) – a £3.75 million programme funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and managed by Shropshire Council. This initiative is transforming how wireless technologies are used to tackle rural challenges across water management, agri-tech, and public services.
- Expanded the council’s on-demand bus service to include Meole Village in Shrewsbury.
- Paused work on the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road.
Councillor Kidd added:
“We’ve already put some big changes in place. This shows our direction and our intention, and we look forward to achieving much more for the residents of Shropshire over the next four years.”
Watch
Heather and Alex Wagner, Shropshire Council’s deputy leader, talk about what has been achieved in their first 100 days.
