Concern over coroner merger plan

Grieving relatives could be forced to travel to Ludlow

Plans to create a single coroner's office in Shropshire are causing concern about the potential effects on grieving relatives.

The coroner for mid and north Shropshire is retiring in the spring and it is proposed that his office should merge with one serving the south of the county, creating a headquarters in Ludlow.

Much of the work coroners carry out will continue to be carried in Shrewsbury though, and a county councillor is seeking assurances that the centrally-located office will remain open to the public.

Tom Biggins in concerned that should those who need to travel to a coroner's office have to make the journey to Ludlow, those people living in north Shropshire could have to make a return trip of more than 100 miles.

A funeral cannot go ahead in certain circumstances unless relatives obtain paperwork from the coroner.

Councillor Biggins plans to raise the matter at a meeting on Friday.