Plans for pleasure rides

Plans to offer off-road buggy pleasure rides near Oswestry have been submitted to council officials.

If the plan is granted approval, land at the Rednal Industrial Estate, West Felton, will be used for the rides. This year, borough councillors gave the go-ahead to use the 11-acre field at Rednal for pleasure hovercraft rides.

If the plans are given the go-ahead, the off-road buggy facility will be used in conjunction with the hovercraft rides on the same site.

Tim Robbins, who runs the hovercraft and go-kart facility at Rednal, said the buggies will be driven by people attending the site to fly the hovercrafts.

In Mr Robbins' application, it says most people using the hovercraft facility arrive in large groups of about 12 people.

It says: "As safety is of paramount importance, we only ever run two hovercrafts, although we have planning permission for three. This inevitably leaves a lot of people standing around waiting. It would be much more of an enjoyable experience if customers have something to do while waiting."

The application states that buggies will be enclosed in a roll cage and powered by four-stroke engines which run at a much lower speed than go-karts. The off-road buggies can reach a top speed of 30mph but the application says they will never reach that speed due to the design of the track.

It also says the buggies have relatively low revving engines so they are much quieter than go-karts and hovercrafts. Mr Robbins is also seeking planning permission to build a temporary wood shelter to allow a place to shelter from the rain, as well as to house a caravan to be used as an office.

The application will be discussed at the next development control meeting of Oswestry Borough Council.