OUR planned £9.3m second roundabout, slap next to the present one at Mile End, will at least completely separate A5 traffic from our ‘local’ vehicles. But - as we’ve been ‘guaranteed’ the A5 will it be dualled - will it be time-proofed with two lanes each way? And how ironic that the original innovation park exit, deemed too dangerous to use, will become the very link to the new roundabout!

How thinking changes with time, showing we often jump in too soon with major projects. The longer we leave things, the clearer becomes our thinking. Now take a peep at the dozens upon dozens of negative responses on the Advertizer online posting - after Salop poorly explained the idea.

OSWESTRY could gain another solar farm next summer, by Shropshire Council using unidentified land it owns just outside the town. It could be delivering electricity within a year as yet another enterprising idea from Shropshire Council leader Peter Nutting. Surely, after Extinction Rebellion protests, no one can object to a scheme - like those on the roof of Shire Hall and Stans Supermarket - that doesn’t smell, doesn’t make a sound but helps save the planet.

IF IRONBRIDGE can approach Network Rail over the feasilibilty of reopening a rail track to it, so Oswestry should press to revitalise the three miles to Gobowen. Ironbridge, like Oswestry, was closed by Beeching but both were left with track in place. Cambrian Heritage Railways own our missing link which still needs a safe solution to cross the busy A5 near the Orthopaedic Hospital. The Howarth Group bought Ironbridge’s former power station last year and claims a new passenger service is integral to its redevelopment there.

HOW sad it is, after providing so much fun for thousands, that the Brow golf course between Oswestry and Ellesmere had to shut. It suffered from the same malaise as many Oswestry clubs - an abject failure to attract new members. Something odd is happening out there, that’s difficult to pinpoint. Falling memberships have become a nationwide problem, rapidly affecting viability.

FOLLOWING floods of brickbats, some good news at last from ‘Trains for Wales’. It promises to create a ‘true intercity experience’ on its Cardiff to Holyhead service which passes through Gobowen and Chirk. It will be using 12 newly refurbished Mark IV InterCity carriages. The only problem is it won’t tell me when!

SHROPSHIRE and Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning groups have agreed to disband and unite as one – to cut running costs. Now Shropshire Council could follow suit - and unite with Telford - so just one council runs the whole of Shropshire. Finally, want a progress report on how well the Montgomery Canal is progressing beyond Crickheath, then pop into its forum at Oswestry Memorial Hall next Tuesday, May 21, at 2:30pm.