Officials back renaming Oswestry green after Wilfred Owen

Shropshire officials believe re-naming Oswestry's new £170,000 town green after the town's most famous son could attract international appeal.

Town officials have given their backing to officially change the name of Oswestry's five-acre site of Gobowen Road to Wilfred Owen Town Green.

Shaun Burkey, Shropshire Council, countryside and community officer, said the town council's endorsement has now been sent to a county department in preparation for new signs to be created.

He hopes the change of name will help put Oswestry on the map internationally.

"The town council has endorsed the renaming and they are all behind it," he said.

"It will have international appeal and it will give us a great stage to base events."

He said events could include poetry and performance and outdoor events.

It could even become a venue for events marking the outbreak of World War One which has its centenary in 2014.

"The potential is there for us with a potential festival. But it is four years off yet."

Wilfred Owen, the famed war poet, was born in Oswestry in 1893 and his work has become standard reading for children.