THE scaffolding on a major Oswestry building central to re-starting a railway line to the town must come down, it has been claimed.

Scaffolding has been in place on the Cambrian Heritage Railway building in Oswald Road for the last two years, with Shropshire Council recently confirming that more repair work is needed on the building.

Now North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has called for action to remove the scaffolding, in order to boost local tourism.

The building is home to CHR, the volunteer-led railway service, which hopes to re-open the line to Gobowen and re-connect to the national rail grid.

She said: “The iconic building on the edge of Oswestry town centre has been covered in scaffolding for nearly two years now, all while operating as one of the main tourist attractions in the town.

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“Oswestry Station could be of particular importance going forward as the campaign to connect the town back to Gobowen by rail continues, and with its place opposite Oswestry Bus Station making it an ideal community transport link.”

She added: “Improving Oswestry town centre and reopening the town’s rail link to Gobowen are key priorities of mine. Shropshire Council must act to make the most of the Oswestry Station building, which is a really wonderful heritage asset for the town.

“Currently, the council are wasting thousands of taxpayers money on scaffolding that is not being used to repair or improve the site, money which could be used to improve the facility.

“I’ve asked to meet with council leaders, local members, and Cambrian Heritage Railways to discuss how we can move this forward for the benefit of all Oswestrians.”

Her call comes after she visited the building last weekend as part of Heritage Open Day, which CHR took part in.

Rob Williams, CHR chairman, said: “We welcomed Helen to provide an update on CHR and our aspirations for the future of both our community rail proposal and the heritage project.

“The day was also the first day of CHR heritage open days offering which saw an extra range of free activities added to the visitor offering.

“These included access to the Oswestry South signal box, tours of a Victorian goods shed, a vintage bus link to Llynclys and free train rides at that location.

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“Helen saw first-hand the appeal of the railway and visitors arriving at the impressive Oswestry station.”

Meanwhile, Mrs Morgan confirmed that CHR representative Roger Date joined a roundtable event in Parliament where he made the case for the line directly to senior Network Rail representatives and cross-party MPs.

A decision was expected earlier this year.