THE recent stormy spells have taken their toll on the outdoor markets in Oswestry, the town council are set to hear at tonight’s Markets and Town Centre Committee meeting.

Storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge have bought several yellow weather warnings and resulted in the cancellation of three market dates for safety reasons.

The market report also shows that the adverse weather subsequently affected the football to the Indoor Market, however the building remained fully attended with the latest trader, Retro Roots, being welcomed in February.

Statistics also set to be reported at the meeting is the £197 increase in the Wednesday markets in comparison to last year’s income, alongside just a £5 per week decrease in the Saturday markets’ income.

The Artisan Market has also seen a decrease in traders attending per month, and a decrease of £72 income.

Also on the agenda for tonight’s meeting will be a call to local parish and town councils to get involved in the launch of the national Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean 2020, organised by The National Association of Local Councils (NALC).

The report states: “This year, the event will take place from Friday, March 20 to Monday, April 13 and aims to build on last year’s success where more than 560,000 ‘litter heroes’ joined forces to collect litter. This year, the target is to reach one million litter pickers.”

An enquiry to several volunteer groups within Oswestry has been sent asking for interest, with a very positive response from groups include Oswestry Business Improvement District (BID), In Bloom and Cambrian Railway.

If approved by the council, they will organise various groups and provide litter picking equipment.

Councillors will also discuss the initiative to attract more coach visitors to the town, working closely with Oswestry Borderland Tourism.

One of the next aims is to achieve Coach Friendly Status for Oswestry, for which the council needs to install clear directional instructions and signs for visiting coaches.

Contact has been made with Shropshire Council Highways Department to explain the changes to signage; however once complete it is believed that Oswestry should become a nationally-recognised coach-friendly town.

The meeting takes place at 7pm in the Guildhall.