Councillors in Wem were last week given a first-hand look at the benefit of money raised by former mayor Councillor Edward Towers during his year in office.

Cllr Towers was joined at the start of the meeting by his nephew Josh, who has muscular dystrophy, in his brand new, purpose built in Shropshire wheelchair which the Wem mayors' fund contributed hundreds of pounds to.

Josh, a former pupil of Thomas Adams School in Lowe Hill road, demonstrated how the chair will change his life at university by allowing to stand up straight, and Cllr Towers was delighted to play his part in the fundraising.

"I want to thank the public's generosity for the money they raised for the mayor's charity," he told the meeting at Edinburgh House last week.

"Through them, I have been able to present two cheques from the Civic Service, where we raised around &£700 halved between the mayor's chosen charity, giving towards the improvements and extension at the Swimming and Lifestyle Centre Gym and half towards Josh.

"He is going to Keele Uni to live independently for first time in his life and he needed a wheelchair. I thought we needed to do something but its hard for individuals to raise money. We were able to put £350 to it and he has the chair now.

"All in all across the year, we were to able to raise just under £4,000 across all our events."

Josh added: "We did some crowdfunding to get the £11,000, which went on Facebook and raised £3,000 on it.

"There was £7,500 from two trusts which was great. It’s not a normal chair; I can stand in it and lay down and it will give me a better quality of life."

Meanwhile at the meeting, the public session saw an issue with the impact of road closure signs on the town, with reference to a road closure sign towards Quina Brook despite the road being closed in Tilstock.

A resident said it was causing confusion to motorists further down towards Wem and the council agreed to ask for the issue to be consideration for future reference.

There were three planning applications to be considered with councillors commenting that they remained against an already-approved proposal to build a property in Shawbury Road which has now returned for reserved matters.

Cllr Paul Johnson stated it was a modern building that was not in keeping with the area and councillor unanimously voted against it.

Councillors objected to to the felling of a tree in Mill Street but supported an application to build a single-storey extension at 3 Marlcroft at in Wem.

Meanwhile, mayor Cllr Connie Grainger admitted they faced a losing battle over keeping the High Street Barclays branch open, stating that a petition could be useful bout would not make the change their mind.

Cllr Pauline Dee added that 'it is disgusting and its happening all over the country. My thanks to Cllr Chris Mellings for trying to have a discussion with them.

Cllr Mellings added: "It’s all about the bottom lime and doesn't consider what impact it has on communities, and it’s sad that it’s the last bank on our High Street.

Cllr Towers said: "My concerns are the figures they threw at us because you can pluck them from anywhere. They’re just doing what they want to do but I'm concerned that shopkeepers have nowhere to get change from. We need to find an alternative to make sure there’s financial advice on the High Street.

Councillors suggested the potential of a community bank and it was proposed to go on the next agenda.