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 decision was 'called in' by the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, who ordered that a public inquiry should be held. In March 2003 a week-long public inquiry, chaired by a Government inspector, was held. The inspector considered all the evidence and recommended that the multi-million pound scheme should go ahead.  | Click here to see a 360 degree panoramic view of Ellesmere Wharf |
But Mr Prescott stepped in again and overruled the inspector. He gave several planning policy reasons, but the main issue was that he thought public transport links to the site were not good enough.  | Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - not the most popular man in Ellesmere at the moment |
The decision caused uproar in Ellesmere, where residents had hoped the eyesore in their town was finally to disappear. North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson questioned Mr Prescott about the decision in the House of Commons, and in Ellesmere a petition in support of the plans was set up. The MP even invited the Deputy Prime Minister to visit Ellesmere to see the site for himself. More than 2,000 of the market town's 3,000 electors signed. The developer's legal challenge to Mr Prescott's decision was thrown out by the High Court on 16th August 2004. Meanwhile the site remains empty and dotted with derelict and overgrown buildings and according to local county councillor Anne Harper, Ellesmere remains starved of facilities. She said: "Ellesmere is a little town that's quietly dying out. It's traditionally depended on agriculture, which is also in trouble, and we need tourism to bring money in. "The Llangollen Canal is the busiest stretch of canal in the country and a lot of canal people use the wharf, despite the fact it's a bombsite. "There's no major supermarket and people in the town tend to go somewhere else - Oswestry or Shrewsbury - to go shopping. "We need a good quality hotel as there are only a few bed and breakfast places in Ellesmere." | 
