How John Prescott blocked the full redevelopment of Ellesmere canal basin

I last visited Ellesmere canal basin getting on for 30 years ago, when I recall it being quite derelict. I was there again this summer and found it changed. But not as changed as it might have been.

There was a new supermarket, a derelict canal warehouse with a top ghost sign (someone told me there had been plans to convert it into a restaurant but they had fallen through) and lots of empty space.

If you want to know why it hasn't been more comprehensively redeveloped, and a BBC News feature from 2004 is enlightening:

For 15 years there has been a hole in the heart of the north Shropshire town of Ellesmere.

Ever since the Dairy Crest creamery shut down, efforts have been made to develop what is a prime canalside site, but all have failed.

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 town had reckoned without John Prescott. He called in the planning application and then ordered a public inquiry. The inquiry, chaired by a government inspector, sat for a week and recommended approval. Then Prescott overruled the inspector. The developers went to court, but there challenge to Prescott's decision failed.

At the time of writing in 2004, the site was "empty and dotted with derelict and overgrown buildings". That would have been fun to explore. It's much tidier today, but not what it might have been.

Here are some photos I took in August. This is the first of what will be a series of posts looking back on my holiday.