AN OSWESTRY landowner who has been continually arrested at council meetings found himself in front of magistrates last week.
John Edwards, pictured, is campaigning against building work on Oswald Row, off Beatrice Street, Oswestry, which he says breaks regulations and affects the land he owns nearby at Madog Place.
On Wednesday, the 60-year-old was bound over for six months after pleading guilty to a breach of the peace for refusing to leave the North Shropshire Planning Committee meeting the previous day.
It was the second month in a row that Mr Edwards halted the meeting which is held at Oswestry’s Castle View. He also arrested at Shrewsbury’s Shirehall last month having disrupted a meeting there.
But despite being warned by magistrates that he could face prison should he continue, Mr Edwards, who lives on City Road in Birmingham, has vowed to maintain his fight.
He told the Advertizer: “I am not backing down in any way. This is going to go on forever, but that does not matter to me.”
Mr Edwards also revealed that the arresting office had told him that he could not carry on as he was and suggested he meet with Shropshire Council officers to resolve the matter.
Admitting he was “reluctant” to do that, Mr Edwards said he was happy to meet with his own Birmingham MP, who has backed his case, with an intermediary.
But despite saying he will not break the binding over agreement until a meeting takes place, Mr Edwards added: “If something goes wrong I will break it [the binding over], it does not worry me in the slightest.”
If Mr Edwards does break the binding over agreement he will have to pay £100 and could face prison.