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In
2003 it looked as if things might finally change with the latest
plans to redevelop the 50 acre site on the canal wharf.
Property
developers Burbury Investments, which bought the site when the creamery
closed, submitted plans for a retail village on the site.
It
included shops, a supermarket, garden centre, caravan park, a 60
bed hotel, a wine bar and housing, with its own access from the
A495.
The
plans were enthusiastically backed by Ellesmere's Chamber of Trade
and the Town Council, and permission was granted by North Shropshire
District Council.
A vote
run on the Ellesmere Community website showed roughly 85 per cent
support for the scheme, with 15 per cent against.
But
the decision was 'called in' by the Deputy Prime Minister, John
Prescott, who ordered that a public inquiry should be held.
In
March 2003 a week-long public inquiry, chaired by a Government inspector,
was held. The inspector considered all the evidence and recommended
that the multi-million pound scheme should go ahead.
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Click
here to see a 360 degree panoramic view of Ellesmere
Wharf
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But
Mr Prescott stepped in again and overruled the inspector. He gave
several planning policy reasons, but the main issue was that he
thought public transport links to the site were not good enough.
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Deputy
Prime Minister John Prescott - not the most popular man in
Ellesmere at the moment
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The
decision caused uproar in Ellesmere, where residents had hoped the
eyesore in their town was finally to disappear.
North
Shropshire MP Owen Paterson questioned Mr Prescott about the decision
in the House of Commons, and in Ellesmere a petition in support
of the plans was set up.
The
MP even invited the Deputy Prime Minister to visit Ellesmere to
see the site for himself.
More
than 2,000 of the market town's 3,000 electors signed.
The
developer's legal challenge to Mr Prescott's decision was thrown
out by the High Court on 16th August 2004.
Meanwhile
the site remains empty and dotted with derelict and overgrown buildings
and according to local county councillor Anne Harper, Ellesmere
remains starved of facilities.
She
said: "Ellesmere is a little town that's quietly dying out.
It's traditionally depended on agriculture, which is also in trouble,
and we need tourism to bring money in.
"The
Llangollen Canal is the busiest stretch of canal in the country
and a lot of canal people use the wharf, despite the fact it's a
bombsite.
"There's
no major supermarket and people in the town tend to go somewhere
else - Oswestry or Shrewsbury - to go shopping.
"We
need a good quality hotel as there are only a few bed and breakfast
places in Ellesmere."
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