Village hall given £10k after roadwork 'chaos'

5 hours ago

Chloe Hughes and Alex Jamesin Shropshire

News image — Jan Giles, Onibury Village Hall committee chair (left) and Joseph Walmsley National Highways route manager, welcomed the announcement

Paul Holmes A woman with white blonde hair and a blue sweater is standing next to a man with dark brown hair and facial hair, wearing a navy blue t-shirt with national highways on it's breast. They are standing in front of a white village hall building with two brown doors. — Jan Giles, Onibury Village Hall committee chair (left) and Joseph Walmsley National Highways route manager, welcomed the announcement

Nearly £10,000 has been handed to a village hall after months of "chaos" caused by roadworks.

Onibury Village Hall, Shropshire, will receive £9,999 from National Highways' Community Legacy Fund - which hands out money to communities affected by roadworks.

Temporary traffic lights and a one-way system were put in place at the village's level crossing from September 2025 to July 2026 after a bridge and road were damaged by a tractor crash.

"It was 10, 11 months of pretty much chaos, increased congestion," said councillor Josh Dickin, who described the hall as the "beating heart" of the village.

"It caused a lot of problems for the village of Onibury, and the people of Shropshire, and the wider region, really," he added.

National Highways route manager Joseph Walmsley said the repairs to the bridge were "unexpected and complex".

"We greatly appreciate the patience of residents and motorists in Onibury who faced disruption in the months after the accident and so wanted to ensure that we could give something back to the community," he said.

National Highways The underside of a green metal bridge. There is a grey paving slab visible on its underside which is cracked in several places. — A cracked slab underneath the bridge was among the issues to be addressed by the works following the tractor crash

The village is "cut in half" by the A49 and level crossing, Dickin said, so the usual routes taken by residents "had to change quite dramatically for quite a few people".

"People were cautious of attending events," he said, adding that the village hall had done "well to keep going" but the "inconvenience really didn't help keeping the lights on".

The funding will be used to make improvements to the village hall's flooring and kitchen - work they had planned but did not have the money for.

"It just really gives longevity of the hall, it needs some investment," said Dickin.

The upgrades to the building will start in January.

Jan Giles, Onibury Village Hall committee chair said she was "delighted" at recieving the funds.

More damage caused

The announcement of the funds came just hours after another accident on the same bridge, causing damage and delays.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said a paramedic officer came across a car that had crashed into Onibury Bridge at 17:53 BST on Thursday.

An ambulance was sent to the scene and a woman was treated for injuries not believed to be serious at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

West Mercia Police also attended, with the road shut until around 19:30.

National Highways said the incident caused some "minor damage" to the bridge, which would need to be repaired "in due course".

"The bridge remains safe for users, and we will include the repairs into other maintenance works we have planned over the coming months," a spokesperson said.

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