Borough councillors have vowed to keep up their fight to have a maternity service reinstated in Oswestry. Oswestry Borough Council members were due to attend a meeting in Birmingham today.

They were expected to join Owen Paterson, North Shropshire MP, to meet health bosses and lobby to have Oswestry’s maternity unit reopened.

The unit at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen closed its doors on January 31 after the expiry of its fire safety certificate.

The closure led to number of objections, while petitions and postcard protests have since been launched in a bid to get facilities for new mothers reopened in Oswestry as soon as possible.

Mr Paterson called a meeting with officials of the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority.

He was due to be joined by Councillor David Lloyd, borough council leader, Paul Shevlin, council chief executive and Councillor Arthur Walpole, chairman of the council’s scrutiny committee.

At a meeting of Oswestry Borough Council yesterday, Councillor Walpole said: “We don’t expect to overhaul the reason why it closed.

“The decision to close the ward on January 31 was wholly inappropriate – that the decision be made on January 11 followed by a meeting with Shropshire Primary Care Trust on January 23.

“Those timescales were wholly inappropriate and that view has been shared widely.”

He added: “The next important move is Paul Shevlin, chief executive, Councillor Lloyd and myself are due to meet with Mr Paterson and Elisabeth Buggins, SHA chairman.”