A BOSS of an Oswestry canalside pub that had its porches torn off by a tractor says he has been frustrated in his attempts to make the rebuild accessible for all frustrated by Shropshire Council.

Ellis Brent owns and runs the Navigation Inn on the banks of the Montogomery Canal in Maesbury Marsh, near Oswestry and last June, porches on the building were torn off by a passing tractor.

Ellis wanted to turn this nightmare into an opportunity to, at best, place a ramp at the entrance to improve accessibility for people with wheelchairs and buggies or at least, introduce an extra step for people.

READ MORE: Boss 'shocked' as tractor destroys Navigation Inn porches

But he said that Shropshire Council has either ignored requests or blocked them completely, after a conservation officer said any ramp would need the pavement to be widened because of regulations.

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“I rang Highways multiple times and sent many emails without reply, not a single one," he said.

“I was then advised then that if I wanted to look at the ramp, I would to submit a pre-application form costing £500 and at that point someone from highways ‘might’ come out and have a look.

“There was no real indication of what the process would be and whether it would be worth it.

“We thought more simple though it doesn’t get us where we want to be in 2024 but let’s replace the one difficult step with two steps for a lower climb.

“There is a picture of the building around 1930/31, admittedly pre-pavement, that shows three steps.

“We want to do everything we can to confirm to being Grade II but the response meant we gave up on the ramp which is disappointing because of the fact that we couldn’t get someone to come and talk to us.

“Literally no response, but for the steps I had an email saying that another step would make the access worse for an ambulance.

“They went to suggest that we put a handrail in which we had before anyway.”

Ellis admitted his frustration came from ‘being unable to comprehend’ how a conclusion was reached without a visit.

“Nobody has worked with us – we’ve tried to do this absolutely the right way,” he said.

“Straight after the accident, I thought this was an opportunity to improve access to the building while retaining the character of Grade II-listing as well.

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“I have a huge frustration that there seems to be a total and utter lack of interest and I know there will be a good chance that I will be the one to get the slack off the customers who will say ‘why didn’t you do something on this’.”

A Shropshire Council spokesman said: “As the building is located on a narrow footway any proposal to enlarge its footprint and make it wheelchair accessible would potentially obstruct the pavement.

“As a result, this would not be a suitable location to create an accessible entrance.”