Councillors in Wem are set to discuss the recent meeting between town council representatives, Shropshire Council and Network Rail over future plans for the train crossing.

Councillor Chris Mellings, who sits on both Wem Town Council and Shropshire, attended a meeting on October 16 with town clerk Penny O'Hagan alongside Shropshire Cllr Steve Davenport, officers Victoria Doran, David Gradwell and Matt Johnson, plus Christina Booth and Rebecca Heeley from Network Rail.

The meeting was called to discuss the recent prolonged closure of the barriers at Wem train station, which was exacerbated because the most local Mobile Operation Manager (MOM), who was able to deal with the fault caused by an issue with the axel counters was based in Hereford and it took more than one hour 40 minutes for them to reach Wem.

The minutes of the meeting state: "By the time the unit was able to reach Wem the town was blocked with traffic. [Christine] explained the Hereford team had also not been made aware that the crossing had been affected.

"All agreed that this situation was not acceptable and Christine reported that she had recently put in a request for a new post to be created which would enable a MOM unit to be located in Shrewsbury 24/7 so if this was to happen again the response time would be reduced to a maximum of 30 minutes.

"Cllr Davenport asked whether a formal diversion route could be signposted for traffic to use if the level crossing was down for a considerable amount of time again."

Other issues raised in the meeting included the possibility of moving the station and whether Network Rail should submit six-monthly reports to Wem Town Council.

It was agreed to look into whether Network rail could run an education programme to stop drivers ending in the yellow box across the rails during heavy traffic, known as blocking back.

Meanwhile, there are planning issues on the agenda as well as a planned discussion on the state of the White Horse Hotel.

Councillors will also approve the adoption of Wilmott Meadow open space at the meeting in Edinburgh House, starting at 7pm.