The public consultaion period for the review of the Shipton Conservation Area closed on Friday 6th and Winslow Town Council joined almost all of the hamlet’s residents in calling for the designation to remain as it is.  Originally the Tory Cabinet Member for Planned Development had called for Conservation Area  Status to be removed due to changes since the last review in 1990. Liberal Democrat leader on AVDC, Cllr Alan Sherwell, ‘called- in’ the decision and the Environment Scrutiny Committee asked for a range of other options to be considered.  A new review offered either ‘de-designation’ or a new reduced conservation area.

Llew suppported local residents at a meeting with AVDC and pointed out that any changes to the Conservation Area have been made with full planning permission given by AVDC so they can hardly say that those changes are responsible for the need to remove the Conservation Area status.  Indeed at a time when the area immediately adjacent to Shipton is under threat of major development the District Council should be doing all they can to protect the area rather than making life easier for developers.

Local historian Julian Hunt has slammed the latest report as being  ”ill conceived, hurried and thoroughly misinformed” and said that ”Such a flawed document should not form the basis of judgement of the AVDC Councillors who should reject it out of hand”   We now await the decsion of the Cabinet Member and hope that common sense will prevail and the whole idea of ‘de-designation” be dropped.