TOURIST information signs about Upton's historical and ecological heritage could be put up around town, if a civic society grant bid succeeds.

The society has applied for a £12,000 grant from the Local Heritage Initiative to fund panels and ecological studies on the River Severn and the Ham and Stocksyatt water meadows.

Society member and town councillor Simon Wilkin-son said the project's other outcomes would be leaflets and children's quiz trails.

Three signs are planned, with one in the Hanley Road car park, showing a town overview and its key sites, one in the Old Churchyard, concentrating on historical buildings and floods, and one on the riverbed, about its ecology and watermeadows.

Historical research for the signs will concentrate on the floods, with the civic society planning to interview people who have experienced flooding.

Ecological studies will concentrate on fish, past and present, in the River Severn, formerly a salmon river, and looking at the flowers, grasses, insects and birds in the water meadows, sites of special scientific interest.

Pupils from Upton CE Primary School could be involved in compiling information.

The civic society will hear in mid-March if its funding bid has been successful.