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Maggie

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Everything posted by Maggie

  1. Old Oswestry features in a news article in the Times. https://www.facebook.com/OldOswestryHillfort/photos/a.542106495826074.1073741827.542104259159631/755218354514886/?type=1&theater
  2. The Sam Dev enquiry is drawing to a close and we await the report from the Inspector in February about whether this Development plan for Shropshire stand up as a legal plan. One criticism in this final round is about how Shrops Council used the wishes of the Parish Councils to determine the level of development planned for villages, and critics used the determination of Weston Rhyn Parish as ' a cluster' as an example of how the total plan was flawed, because they believed that far greater levels of development could be sustained here than were envisaged by the label 'cluster' and it shouldn't have been left to Parish Councils to decide. If this all sounds like gobbledegoop to you,then read on here http://www.oswestryi.com/?p=2466#more-2466 and follow the links to descend further into the depths of planning speak.
  3. The Public Hearing into the inclusion of land close to Old Oswestry Hillfort is today. Many people in the 3 Parishes have been involved in the campaign to save the Hillfort (In Selattyn and Gobowen Parish) and have raised the issue around the world magnificently. Have a look at the calibre of these famous archaeologists who have signed an open letter in support today. We started small but look where it got us in terms of support. I hope the planning inspector can see the 'bigger picture' too. ( Campaign Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/OldOswestryHillfort) https://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/oswestry-hill-fort-public-hearing-opens-a-powerful-open-letter-by-senior-academics-in-british-archaeology-has-been-published/
  4. Nice article about the protest camp in Duddleston is in the Shropshire Star. They are hunkering down for the winter, even have a wood burner to keep warm. http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2014/11/22/anti-drilling-campaigners-get-ready-for-winter-at-shropshire-camp/border-23-cam-6/
  5. Well obviously the applicant is rushing this through because the silly unsustainable government grants which make solar farms such an attractive windfall for landowners will stop early next year and time is running out on them.
  6. So who else who reads Community Online posts will be at the Big Local event? I'm taking a display about 'Aqueducks' and the Canal World Heritage Site concentrating on the Chirk Bank part, with old photos etc, and information about how you can get involved; and also some stuff about the Incredible Edible project for which I need some volunteers. We are also looking for some interest from people in developing a group to get involved with the canal outside the World Heritage centre, which crosses the Big Local area much of it being the boundary between Gobowen and St Martins. It would be really nice to see some of the same things happening there as have done in Chirk Bank, with community involved in improving the area and welcoming new visitors.
  7. Sorry, I just clicked on Comments and got in. The Documents are not working for other sites I've had a look at (or not) tonight.
  8. I've just got in so it must have been a temp. glitch. http://planningpa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do;jsessionid=44A9EC482714F4B8A0F68001055376F6?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NB2ROKTDMHU00
  9. Well it must have been an interesting planning meeting at Shirehall today. The Councillors wanted to reject the appltcation for a test drill, but instead it has been postponed because the officers and the legal people stepped in. I wonder what that is about? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-29762509
  10. Maybe more gov. money should be spent in developing British innovations such as the one mentioned by Lee Barnfield further up this thread. THAT would be a local innovation and its develpment support local workers etc. and also be good for the environment.
  11. They are also rushing it through to get planning sorted before Defra take away the solar farm subsidies from green field sites on farms. This is due to happen in April 2015, so if they hurry they can get their grant before then! Defra are removing the subsidy because of widescale use of good farming land at a time when there are warnings that we are running short of land to grow food. http://www.planningresource.co.uk/article/1317885/farming-subsidies-cut-stop-spread-solar-panels-says-defra
  12. Planning Officers recommend granting the planning application for test drilling at Duddleston ahead of the Planning Committee meeting next week. Lots of people objected! http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2014/10/17/planning-officers-back-shropshire-gas-test-drill-bid-despite-fears/
  13. Maggie

    Family History

    There are a couple of Facebook pages which might be interesting if you put a question on them, 'Remembering the (surroundings of oswestry)' and the one which has loads of members is 'REMEMBER OSWESTRY Remembering things in the 60s 70s 80s'. Both are 'closed' groups but I think you can just click if you want to join and post something. They both cover Weston Rhyn and it would be worth posting something on there.. There are some archives in the Library in Oswestry, but the main place where information is held is over in Shrewsbury in the County Archives. There is a Family History Section in Oswestry Library and someone is there to help on Fridays. I'm not sure about the County Archives, but I read that they had reduced opneing times so best to find out first before you go. You can find out about both of these on the Shropshire Council website. Good Luck.
  14. PV greenhouses? Sounds great. Tell us more. e.g. can we use this for windows in houses and offices?
  15. Can of worms is right, all sorts of plants, animals, fungi, bacteria etc living in the soil fix CO2 extracted from the atmosphere by plants and keeps it there.
  16. Usually, now, once a development is completed, a developer will pay something towards Shropshire Council, who, once they have checked that the road is up to standard, will then 'adopt' that road. There are quite a few older roads around here which have never been adopted for one reason or another. The first point of call is your Councillor, who can take this up with Shropshire Council officers on your behalf. It must feel very unfair when you pay council tax to find out that you are responsible for the upkeep of a road.
  17. I am all for using solar power as this is the way forward for our planet. http://inhabitat.com/report-solar-could-be-dominant-power-source-by-2050/ However, I do not believe such an unplanned and poorly thought out system as here, being forced by grant schemes,and using good agricultural land far from urban and industrial centres has much 'sustainability' (read 'common sense') because of the infrastructure, power lines and substations that would be necessary for distribution. Now, if the government were to insist on solar tiles or panels on all new build, and grant support solar 'farms' on city rooftops as part of new developments I would be cheering them on. Germany can do it. http://inhabitat.com/german-village-produces-321-more-energy-than-it-needs/ It makes no sense to use good fields for this when there are so many alternatives, especially as we are going to run out of agricultural land to development rather sooner than we want and should be putting a priority on the protection of green field sites. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28003435 What we need from central government is joined up thinking. Planning,Housing, Defra, Energy etc. all need to get their collective act together, instead of gains for one department being paid for by another.
  18. Thanks Bethan. very interesting how very extensive this will be. I should think that the fence, if not the solar panels behind, would be visible from the canal, but I wonder whether they will dominate the skyline? That would have an adverse effect on the number of visitors to the area entering along the canal, Encouraging these visitors to stay longer and come into the villages makes very good economic sense and could achieve rewards for small amounts of outlay (new guided walks, signage and tourism development generally). Someone needs to do the sums, but over 25 years the money offered by the solar farm might be small cheese compared to what could be achieved by, say, one tea room down by the canal.
  19. Not having been able to go to the open evening I have no idea where this solar farm extends to. It sounds pretty big. My query is, how close to the canal is it? and can it be seen from the canal which crosses an atmospheric area of open ground below the slope up to Ebnal.
  20. Until very recently we didn't have caller number display, and now we have we can avoid answering numbers which look odd. It is worth getting this service if you don't already have it.
  21. So...if you have answered a call and ended up on List D and are getting junk calls, how do you rectify this?
  22. I think Shropshire is very poorly served by cycle paths. many other places have designated paths drawn either on the road or on the footpath. Why cannot we have the same thing here? The fact that it is illegal to ride a bike on a footpath puts many people off. Weston Rhyn Parish Council have asked the police to stop cyclists on footpaths in the village, but when the alternative is a dangerous road then people won't use their bikes.
  23. There is a piece in the Shropshire Star about Dart's response to the hundrds of objections to the test drill at Duddleston. http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-news/2014/09/20/no-fracking-vow-by-energy-bosses/ They stress that this is just an exploratory drill, part of which function is to find out more about what lies beneath. This was the reason why I did not personally object to the planning application, despite attending a meeting and listening to the objectors comments I thought that what they were objecting to, ie extraction of CBM, would have been covered by a separate planning application if and when, and might well not take place anywhere nearby anyway depending on what was discovered by the test drill. I hope they intend to make their results known. When I started following this, ages ago, the underground information from BGS was different to now. The Bowland Shales (the source of the shale gas) were mapped as rising to the surface just south of Wrexham. They now postulate that there might be a separate depositional basin beneath Ellesmere, well below the coal seams. I suspect Dart are using an old planning application site (which had lapsed but they probably thought would be easy to renew) to test this hypothesis. Just my opinion!.
  24. Thanks Connecting Shropshire, great news. I am so looking forward to watching video feeds. Might be able to get Netflix.
  25. Most of Weston Rhyn is on the Chirk Exchange, the same for St Martins. I don't know about Gobowen, or Selattyn. (Oh great, have had to wait ages to post this, until the little broadband icon came back on).
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