The town council provides horticultural services and is responsible for parks, sports pitches, recreation grounds, allotments and highway verges. The council also manages provision of the town market, community facilities, bus shelters, street lighting and public toilets.[2]
The town is subdivided into 17 wards, each of which returns one councillor to sit on the town council. Elections are held every four years, alongside Shropshire Council elections, using first-past-the-post. The wards are mostly coterminous with the Shropshire Council divisions created in 2009.[note 1]
Prior to 2009, the Mayor of Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council acted as Mayor of Shrewsbury.[3] The Mayor is elected annually for a one-year term alongside the Deputy Mayor. By convention the Deputy Mayor becomes Mayor the following year.
Term
Mayor
Ward
Party
2009-10
Alan Townsend
Belle Vue
Labour
2010-11
Kathleen Owen
Meole
Conservative
2011-12
Tony Durnell
Monkmoor
Conservative
2012-13
Keith Roberts
Radbrook
Conservative
2013-14
Jon Tandy
Sutton and Reabrook
Labour
2014-15
Beverley Baker
Bagley
Liberal Democrat
2015-16
Miles Kenny
Underdale
Liberal Democrat
2016-17
Ioan Jones
Harlescott
Labour
Elections
Shrewsbury Town Council
Year
Lab
Con
Lib
Green
2009
3
12
2
0
2010*
4
11
2
0
2012*
4
10
3
0
2013
7
5
5
0
2017
7
6
3
1
2021
7
2
6
2
The changing political make-up of the town council. * = by-election
Shrewsbury Town Council election, 2017
The third elections to Shrewsbury Town Council were held on 4 May 2017, coinciding with elections to Shropshire Council.[4]
The Conservatives gained Bagley from the Liberal Democrats while the Greens gained Porthill, its first seat on Shrewsbury Town Council, also from the Liberal Democrats. That left Labour with 7 seats, the Conservatives with 6, the Liberal Democrats with 3 and the Green Party with 1.
The second elections to Shrewsbury Town Council were held on 3 May 2013, coinciding with elections to Shropshire Council.
Labour gained Column, Monkmoor and Sundorne from the Conservatives while the Liberal Democrats gained Bagley and Quarry and Coton Hill. The composition of the town council was subsequently 7 for Labour, 5 for the Conservatives and 5 for the Liberal Democrats. With the Conservatives losing overall control, Labour and the Liberal Democrats took control of the control.[5]
^15 of the town council wards are coterminous with county electoral divisions; the exception is Bayston Hill, Column and Sutton division which comprises the ward of Column, the ward of Sutton and Reabrook, and the separate parish of Bayston Hill.