Other settlements included the towns of Ellesmere, Market Drayton and Whitchurch, as well as the large villages of Shawbury and Baschurch.

[2] The district council classified Wem, Market Drayton, Whitchurch and Ellesmere as the market towns of North Shropshire, while it gave the classification of "main service villages" to Baschurch, Cheswardine, Clive, Cockshutt, Dudleston Heath, Hadnall, Hinstock, Hodnet, Prees, Shawbury, Tilstock, Welshampton and Woore.

There were four railway stations in the district: (Yorton, Wem, Prees and Whitchurch), all on the Welsh Marches Line.

The Shrewsbury to Chester Line ran through the district as well, but the only station on that section of the line within North Shropshire had been at Baschurch, which had closed in 1965, prior to the district's creation.

The first elections to the council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974.