A SENIOR Oswestry councillor is to propose that land be bought from a company in the town to provide park space for residents plagued by rubbish and anti-social behaviour.

Councillor Duncan Kerr, leader of the Greens on Oswestry Town Council, has put forward a motion to Wednesday’s meeting at the Guildhall to try to create open space.

In his motion, he says the area around Orchard Street has long been an issue for residents and Shropshire Council, but has come up with a solution.

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His motion stated: “Residents of Orchard Street and Eden Street have been plagued for many years by the dumping of rubbish and antisocial activities on the land to the rear of the garage in Beatrice Street that fronts onto Orchard Street.

“These issues have regularly been reported to Shropshire Council who have taken enforcement action to prevent harbourage for rodents and the use of the land for building storage without planning permission.

“Recognising that this area of the town suffers from a high-density population with little open space I am asking that the town council formally writes to the owners Rontec ascertaining whether they would be willing to consider sale of the land to the town council so that a pocket park and some off-road car parking can be provided.”

Cllr Kerr has also tabled a second motion for the meeting, which begins at 7pm, to start a potential campaign encouraging people to ‘shop local’.

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He said: “All councillors talk about the importance of supporting local businesses, but it remains the case that the council itself has not launched any programme or initiative to encourage residents to do so. Totally Locally is one such scheme which has attracted nationally positive publicity.

“The poster for the town of Helston in Cornwall, significantly smaller than Oswestry, makes the point that if every resident spent £5 a week supporting local shops in would raise £2.3 million for the local economy.

“I therefore call on the council to appoint a small working group of three to five members who will meet with Oswestry BID to ascertain their view and see if we can work together to launch either Totally Locally, or a similar scheme, in Oswestry and report back to council for approval.”