Oswestry Iron Age hillfort development plans opposed

English Heritage described Oswestry Hillfort as "one of the greatest archaeological monuments of the nation".

Revised plans for housing near the site of an Iron Age hillfort have been opposed by a campaign group.

Developer Galliers Homes has reduced the number of homes it is seeking to build on the land, just outside Oswestry, Shropshire, from 91 to 83.

But the Hands Off Old Oswestry Hillfort (HOOOH) group said it would still be a 'major development' within the setting of a scheduled monument.

The application will be decided at a later date by Shropshire Council.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the land had been identified as being suitable for development under Shropshire Council's local plan.

But HOOOH has argued that more than sufficient land has been identified elsewhere to accommodate long-term housing growth in Oswestry.

The campaign group said the proposals "threaten a new direction of town growth that will devastate the hillfort's surviving but fragile setting".

"Housing will obliterate one of the best views of the hillfort for visitors approaching Oswestry from the east, leading to substantial harm to the heritage significance of the monument by destroying appreciation and understanding of the hillfort in its landscape setting as seen from this important vista," it added.

There are 274 objections to the current application and previous attempts to get homes built have been opposed by high-profile figures including anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts, historians Professor Michael Wood, Bettany Hughes and Dan Snow, actor Tom Holland, archaeologist Francis Pryor and the author Cressida Cowell.