Oswestry could be on brink of renaissance, claims civic boss

Saffron Rainey says Oswestry Civic Society must support the building of a better town as much as the protection of its heritage.

"The coming decade is an exciting one for the town. It faces for the first time the risks associated with out of town development. It is also apparent that the town doesn't have enough opportunities to retain the growing graduate population," he said.

"I sense that Oswestry is formulating ideas and some solutions to counter these considerable risks and I sense we could be on the brink of a renaissance of urban living and the revival of town centres."

Mr Rainey said that his vision of a successful Oswestry would be a town with a balanced age and social profile with jobs for all sectors of the population.

He said: "It will provide excellent facilities for all generations especially the very young and old. It will have a well considered and well provisioned transport system to accommodate both the public and private needs. The town should reach to the future and build the infrastructure to attract fast-growing modern industries and support this with the ongoing improvements in the public realm.

"Crucial to any successful place is a strong and vibrant cultural life, which in many ways we have we just need to keep promoting and building on the excellent foundations. The final component is something that I hope the arrival of a university in the county will allow Oswestry to benefit from. We have good schools and colleges, so a seat of tertiary learning will allow greater opportunities for personal development and life-long learning. It will also attract economy businesses to the area.

"So we seem to have a recipe for economic success, one that isn't terribly surprising - an educated workforce, lots of companies to hire those educated workers and excellent internet."