Legal action threat over plan to build near Oswestry hillfort

The plans for 117 homes off Whittington Road are included in Shropshire Council's key SAMDev planning document which will dictate where development will take place in the future.

The homes can be built as long as conditions are met, a planning inspector has ruled.

But members of Hands Off Old Oswestry Hillfort say the homes will detract from the setting of the ancient monument.

The group has revealed it has met a specialist planning lawyer to discuss the prospect of legal action over the Whittington Road development being included in the SAMDev plan.

The meeting comes as the SAMDev document nears the end of its examination by planning inspector Claire Sherratt ahead of its adoption by Shropshire Council.

Heritage preservation group The British Archaeological Trust is among groups opposing the inclusion of the 117-home plan in the document.

The group claims the planning conditions for delivery of OSW004 "are both contradictory and inconsistent with the sensitivity of the site, lying as it does within the immediate setting of Old Oswestry Hillfort in which the present rural environment is critical".

Tim Malim, heritage planning advisor for the campaigners, said: "A growing number of councils have had to revisit their local plans after they were found unsound or legally challenged, causing considerable extra cost and delay.

"Does Shropshire Council really want to risk this for the sake of 117 houses which will devalue one of the county's most iconic landmarks?"

"We urge Shropshire Council to see common sense," said Mr Malim.