A LIB DEM councillor whose counter motion stopped a working party for trying to support local business has said the original idea was ‘wasteful'.

Last week, Councillor James Owen blocked Green Party leader Cllr Duncan Kerr’s bid to set up a group for a face-to-face meeting with Oswestry Business Improvement District (BID) to work on a 'Totally Locally' scheme.

This, according to Cllr Kerr’s motion, was to try to persuade people to shop locally and put millions into Oswestry’s economy but Cllr Owen said it would ‘drain officer time’ and is ‘replicating work done by the Oswestry BID’.

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Cllr Owen also argued that it would be ‘far better’ to instead write a letter from the council to ask Oswestry BID about their plans to promote local businesses, and whether the highlighted scheme could be integrated alongside their plans.

The amendment was carried after being backed by seven councillors from all political parties that sit on the council against five in support, including one from Cllr Kerr’s Green Party.

He said: “Promoting local business is important for Oswestry, and the 'Totally Locally' scheme is a good fit for our town. 

“However, I feel the conversation with the Oswestry BID about this scheme and promoting local business could be simplified without all the bureaucracy of a formal working group.

"The last group on a similar scheme reported back to this very same meeting despite not even being quorate.

“That meeting would have required officer and councillor time to arrange and prepare for, yet it couldn’t consider any of the business on the agenda.

“That is not how you should run a council.

"I feel the option to approach our existing and well-organised business groups with some ideas is a much better use of ratepayer-funded officer time."

However, Cllr Kerr dismissed his colleague’s accusation that the group is ‘wasteful’ and countered that asking town clerk Arren Roberts to write the letter is both a drain on his time and a delay that is not ‘helpful to anyone’.

“It's good to see that the Lib Dems as well as the Tories are supporting this Green Party initiative to support local traders,” he said.

“If our motion to hold a meeting with BID had been passed we could have got started by now.

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“Instead we have a delay of a month or two while we wait for the clerk to compose and send a letter, BID to respond and then the clerk will have to prepare a report to a future meeting of the town council.

“Causing him more work not less.

“Traders are telling me that they desperately need urgent action not dither and delay.”