The trigger for this campaign came from a meeting to discuss the Oswestry Town Plan.  

As the meeting unfolded and turned to Old Oswestry Hillfort, both Neil Phillips and myself became increasingly concerned that adequate protection was not being given to the hillfort from the current proposals by Shropshire Council to include land near the hillfort for housing allocations.  The feeling in the meeting was that the housing allocations would go ahead as proposed and there was very little could be done about it.

And so, knowing that the deadline for consultation on these "Revised Plans for SAMDev" was approaching (23rd August) a petition was created on CHANGE.ORG on the 1st August.  Shropshire Council had asked for consultation and views can be expressed in a variety of ways.  It was felt that a petition would be a convenient and effective way for the town to express a view.

15 days later, the petition stands at 3208.  The council's proposals have clearly touched a nerve locally, regionally, nationally and internationally with over 20 countries expressing support.

The petition has been around the town in paper form.  Several people in the street have asked for sheets to complete.

There would appear to be no taste and no desire for these housing allocations to go ahead.

There is also absolutely no imperative for these sections within Old Oswestry Hillfort's setting to be included.  For the number of houses this represents, the council could take the decision to:

1. Go with the allocation they have, excluding the Hillfort proposals.

2. Await for appropriate development land to become available.

These Hillfort allocations are tasty morsels for developers - no question.  That is their job.  But our job is take full part in the consultation process, to fight for Old Oswestry Hillfort and to leave Shropshire Council in no doubt as to the strength of feeling and rationale for excluding this area, both now and in future, from such damaging, short-sighted proposals.

We sincerely hope they will think again at this policy stage and stand by their own policy to protect Shropshire's most important Heritage Assets.

I'd like to thank everyone involved with the campaign who have worked so hard to give people an opportunity to know about the issue and to respond - especially Kate Clarke and Maggie Rowlands.  We keep going till the job is done.

CLICK TO SIGN THE PETITION

CLICK TO COMPLETE THE COUNCIL QUESTIONNAIRE

(Questions 1-3 pertain to the hillfort)