Maybe our prayers will be answered by group

SO SOMEONE was listening when we renewed our moan a fortnight ago and tagged the empty former Dorothy Perkins building and even more derelict former Be-Wise store, ‘a disgrace to Oswestry’ in their dishevelled state!

‘The Future Oswestry’ Group, which includes the town and Shropshire Council, and crucially BID, quickly snapped into action.

Its first priority is to identify the buildings’ owners, and then seek uses for them – which could include accommodation on the upper floors. Whittington-based Shropshire deputy leader Cllr Steve Charmley revealed BID had already set up a meeting with commercial agents to examine the Reflections’ highlighted empty properties.

He stresses: "Shropshire Council has the power to use compulsory purchase orders to get these buildings back into use.”

We say the sooner the better – and please include Lawrence’s Church street shop, left in a terrible state and still crying out for restoration!

The camera never lies

SOUND videos cannot lie – so how sensible that North Wales Police will soon be kitted out with £465 sound videos, to record everything.

Only top cops were issued them when Police Commissioner Arfon Jones took over, but now ALL officers will get them – at a cost of around half a million pounds. Having sat through years of conflicting evidence, as a magistrate, cameras reveal just what really happened – not how defendants, or indeed the police, recalled them!

The fight carries on

EARLY-DAY campaigners – saddened when plans for a Pant and Llanymynech bypass were put on ice back in 2011, plan to resume the fight.

How wonderful former campaigner Mike Catt is calling a meeting after revealing he was heartbroken by the latest crash at Llynclys Crossroads when two children were airlifted to Alder Hey.

We always knew this!

SHROPSHIRE’S been deemed the second most popular place in the UK for people to retire.

It’s said to attract over-65s because of its ‘stunning countryside’, sensible house prices, access to doctors and its number of bungalows. Top of the charts was Cornwall with idyllic beaches and an incredible 386,207 bungalows, but Shropshire almost won out through our average £272,151 houses.

Talks go to London

IT’S still at the talking stage, but plans for dualling the Oswestry to Montford Bridge A5 section are soon to be put again in front of the government.

Welsh Frankton-based St Martins Cllr Steve Davenport, Shropshire’s Cabinet member for Highways and Parking, plans to set up a meeting with transport minister Grant Shapps “as soon as possible”. And he feels confident the dualling remains high with PM Boris Johnson!