Renewed calls for Oswestry's eyesore plastic barriers to finally be replaced after three years
Oswestry Town Council is to offer £100,000 towards permanent work to widen pavements on a street that still has temporary barriers three years after they were put in place.
Shropshire Council put red and white control barriers - known as HOGS - on Church Street as part of post-lockdown social distancing measures.
Despite constant calls for the pavement widening to be made permanent, the red and white temporary barriers are still being used.
Town councillors at a meeting on Wednesday expressed frustration that they have not been replaced saying three years down the line nothing had been done, with Councillor Duncan Kerr proposing the £100,000.
Councillor Sian Wadey-Kerr, who works in the town centre, said the HOGS were dangerous.
"When it is windy they can whip into the road into the path of vehicles," she said.
Councillor Sam Chadwick agreed: "There has been one fatal and two very serious accidents on that street, something has to be done."
There was also concern about the look of the town.
Councillor Paul Milner said: "It is not a good impression for people. Improvements are being made to Cross Street and Bailey Street but Church Street looks dreadful."
The proposal for the town council giving £100,000 toward permanent improvements came from Councillor Duncan Kerr.
He said “This year Shropshire Council has committed to spending nearly £5 million improving the public spaces in Bridgnorth and over £17 million in Shrewsbury’s riverside. It’s a stark contrast to Oswestry which gets the shortest of straws with the temporary plastic 'hogs' on Church St celebrating their third birthday and no plan agreed for a permanent solution."
After the meeting, Councillor Kerr, coordinator of the North Shropshire Green Party expressed his frustration and dismay.
"Interventions by the Town Council, Oswestry Bid and the MP at all levels have failed to rouse them from their slumbers. Meanwhile shop owners regularly have to round-up displaced hogs, the police are fed-up with responding to complaints about them, and In Bloom's valiant effort to win awards for the town are under-mined. Shropshire Council’s many deadlines and promises to complete these works have come and gone."
