Oswestry marina plans suffer funding blow
Thursday 9th June 2011, 6:37PM BST.
Plans to build a canal marina near Oswestry have suffered a set- back after a bid for vital funding was rejected.
But bosses at Shropshire firm Morris Holdings, which had planned to build a marina and a five star touring caravan park on 25 acres of land at Queen’s Head, said today they were hoping to carry on with the ambitious project. The proposeddevelopment site is next to the A5.
It is between Oswestry and Shrewsbury, adjoining the Montgomery Canal and Aston Nature Reserve.
The plan was among several schemes put forward by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership in a £36 million bid to the Government’s £4 billion Regional Growth Fund.
But the LEP, the economic development body for Shropshire, Herefordshire and Telford & Wrekin, has been told the bid has been unsuccessful.
Edward Goddard, Morris Leisure’s managing director, said: “The news is a huge setback.”
“But we are already looking at whether we should go for a phase 2 submission so this is not the end for us,” he continued.
“This area has already been identified in the Local Plan as an ideal location for an iconic leisure development.”
As a result of the funding refusal Shirehall leaders are voicing “grave concern” that rural areas of Shropshire are not getting a fair funding deal from Government.
The LEP is now considering lobbying government, as well as exploring the viability of re-submitting any of the unsuccessful bid to round two of the RGF.
The deadline for submitting bids is July 1.
By Iain St John
UK News
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Why on earth are Morris Holdings asking for a grant? – grasping parasites – hardly short of a bob or two are they?
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