Oswestry21

………… was held at The Walls on Monday 14th. (With many thanks to Geoff & Kate).

Good turn out, thanks all for coming. Usual stuff to begin with - Treasurers report and revisions to constitution.

The Annual Report covered concerns about the Powis Hall makeover and lack of news about progress, and the complications regarding the structure of the building with its ramp access to 1st floor and the need for a lift, and whether this was a factor in the seeming lack of impetus in relation to additional fund raising. David Preston and My Deco to be contacted. If Oswestry had relinquished control of its market to the old Shropshire County Council in the early 70’s as did many other Shropshire market towns, then funding might have been easier to secure now, though Council Leader Keith Barrows oft stated determination to see the market demolished and replaced with a building with a different function, “possibly with some small retail units” would have to be clarified.

The Empty Shops initiative is now called Footfall, an organisation involving Shropshire Council and Border Visual Artists (BVA), among others. Sites have been identified and an arrangement for SC legal department to draw up short term tenancy agreements has been investigated. The underused Station Building is a likely venue for exhibition space.

Saffron Rainey gave an account of his Unitary election campaign earlier this year and noted how many of the concerns of Oswestry residents chime with the concerns of OS21, supermarket need being one and quality of water supply being another. It was agreed that water quality should become an issue that OS21 should become more involved with.

The Oswestry Transition Town group are presenting a Green Fair in the Memorial Hall on 24th October in order to participate in Global Day of Action “350″. OS21 are presenting a debate the same evening and have recruited a Chair and panel, all of whom are known and respected in their work and fields of endeavour. More to come on this soon.

Gratitude was expressed for the support and collaboration extended to OS21 by both the coalition partners, CPRE and the Civic Society.

The Food Price comparison event run at the Food Festival is an ongoing project, with data being collected over a three month period relating to food staples purchased from supermarkets, independents and the market. Results of this will be made available here once verified by independent analysts in October.

News of this website and statistics, currently around 400 visits a week, 200 unique visits a week with a consistent amount of new visitors, and average visit of 2 minutes. It is followed by the Shropshire Star, The Advertizer and BBC Radio Shropshire either directly or by Twitter feed. All of whom have contacted us at various times for comment. There is a revamp due, with a new look, and more functionality, but concerns were expressed that not too many changes should be made until after the supermarket and retail decision has been made.

The Core Strategy was discussed, with the CPRE commenting that they have made their formal response and that the new proposed planning framework would be an improvement on the old but concerns were raised about the need for any new housing to come with employment opportunities too, otherwise Oswestry would continue to lose its youth, and would be in danger of becoming yet another retirement and commuter town. The deadline for YOUR response is 2nd October. Available HERE.

On current retail development applications, our CPRE analyst gave a brief explanation of the Nathaniel Lichfield Partners report and a breakdown of their latest revised (downward) figures for retail need in Oswestry (revised Aug. 09), pointing out that revised NLP figures show a need of around 20,000 sq. ft. gross and the current four planning applications are between 45,000 and 70,000 sq. ft. gross, and thus closer to the scale of present out-of-town stores on the edge of Shrewsbury rather than what might be thought appropriate for a market town of around 17,000 inhabitants.

Long post, but it’s all news. And you won’t get it anywhere else.

We thought that readers maybe interested to see the oswestry21.com statistics over the last year showing a steady rise in readership, a high average time per visit for a website, and a very pleasing average of 34% new visits. All encouraging news and many thanks to all who visit and read. There are straws in the wind about a site revamp and expansion, which these statistics will help to justify. Watch this space.

Since 5th May, which was the 2nd week of this sites existance, we have been tracking the popularity of the site and the posts made and comments submitted. Here are a few of the highlights.

761 unique visits

240 average visits per week

 3,911 page views

14mins  average time spent on the site

5 page views per visits

Read His Lips the most popular post with 350 viewings and 17 comments. 

People have read this site in Britain, Holland, Spain, USA and Australia.

Our ambition for June is to average 500 visits per week.  So please tell us what you want Oswestry21.com to report on, photograph, film, play.

The backroom team @ Oswestry21.com