A CAMPAIGN group for the protection of an iconic Oswestry landmark believes support for stopping housing development has crashed a council website.

And one voice added to that support is Shropshire-born TV historian and academic Dame Mary Beard, who has added her concerns about development at the Old Oswestry hillfort.

She is one of many TV personalities that has submitted objections for plans to build more than 90 houses around the hillfort, including Professor Alice Roberts, Francis Pryor of Channel 4's Time Team, as well as John Challis, Boycie from Only Fools and Horses.

The award-winning author and Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Cressida Cowell, also tweeted her support.

The social media activity saw a surge in objections, which Shropshire Council’s planning office confirmed caused temporary problems for some people submitting comments online, according to campaign group Hands Off Old Oswestry hillfort (HOOOH).

In Professor Roberts’s objection on Shropshire Council’s website, she states: “Old Oswestry Hillfort is one of the best preserved hill forts in Britain.

"The proposed plan exceeds existing limits to development, and fundamentally fails to respect both the national importance of this site and its importance to local people.

"The development would have an irreversible impact on this very important piece of our national heritage.”

Oswestry Town Council, Cambrian Heritage Railways and Oswestry & Border Archaeology & History Group (OBHAG) are among local stakeholders maintaining their opposition.

Influential national heritage bodies have also objected, including the CBA (Council for British Archaeology), RESCUE (the British Archaeological Trust) and The Prehistoric Society.

A spokesperson for HOOOH added: “The Inspector’s criteria for rubber stamping this land allocation six years ago in Shropshire’s SAMDev plan have fundamentally changed.

“Oswestry’s targets for annual housing delivery are being scaled back, while changes concerning the legal status of the adjacent Cambrian line as an operating railway prevent the development from meeting key sustainability criteria on pedestrian and cycle access.

“New studies reaffirming the high value of the landscape around the hillfort north of Oswestry have seen Shropshire Council rule out any further allocations within this most sensitive of areas in their local plan review to 2036.

"The slim justification for housing that councillors and the Inspector were led to believe in 2014 no longer stands, and the site should simply not be developed.

“The masterplan for the current application entirely fails to meet Historic England’s requirements on the northern limit for building and acceptable design, and therefore Shropshire’s northern planning committee has compelling grounds to refuse permission.”

These are the third set of plans to be submitted by Galliers Homes within a year, prompting huge opposition each time. Objections on the planning portal (as of April 19, 2020) have reached almost 200, exceeding total objections to each of the previous and subsequently withdrawn submissions.

The deadline for public comments is Monday, April 20. People can view the planning application and make representations by searching 20/01033/EIA via the link: https://pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/