A tourist attraction has gained full retrospective planning permission for its base, after a request for the government to call it in was dropped.

The British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry was granted retrospective permission for its base and improvements to the entrance onto the A5 at a meeting on Tuesday.

But the decision was subject to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government deciding on whether it should be called in for a public inquiry.

It came after a member of the public requested the government look at the plans and make a decision.

But the same member of the public, who does not wish to be named, has now withdrawn the request after attending the North Planning Committee meeting.

And the government has now confirmed it will not be looking at the plans and a permission notice can be granted.

The member of the public said: “Having attended the planning meeting when the application was considered by the North Planning Committee, and through speaking at length with the applicant afterwards, I feel that the committee came to the right decision in resolving to grant retrospective planning permission.

“I was reassured by certain members declaring an interest and leaving the room, and by all the remaining members raising concerns regarding the highway issue, as well as the manner in which the applicant had gone about developing his scheme.

“After listening to the committee discussion, I feel that any harm caused by the application is outweighed by the positive benefits, and this was the unanimous decision of the committee.

“I also recognise that few applications are called in each year, and that it might take a few weeks to come to a decision to not call the application in, so in light of the above, I think it would be unfair of me to allow the indecision over issuing the planning consent to continue and cause further distress and uncertainty to the applicant.

“I am also mindful that the sooner the decision is issued, the sooner the highway improvements can be implemented, which has always been my main concern.”

Confirming the government will not intervene, John Blakeway, planning casework officer at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: “The request is considered withdrawn and accordingly the Secretary of State has no further interest in this case.”