Public consultation opens into Shrewsbury's Big Town Plan

The public consultation into the final draft of the Big Town Plan, developed by Shrewsbury Business Improvement District (BID), Shropshire Council, and Shrewsbury Town Council, opened today and residents were encouraged to make their voices heard.

Shrewsbury Town Council's finance and general purposes committee unanimously approved the final draft this week.

The authority's leader, Councillor Alan Mosley, said: "We discussed it and unanimously approved the recommendation for the town council to support the overall work within the Big Town Plan.

"There's also a great deal of support for many of the ideas within it including the northern corridor proposals and the Flaxmill, and also the idea about reviving the street scene and creating more space for pedestrians and we said we would greatly support it.

"This is a major step forward in making Shrewsbury an even better place to live, work, visit and do business.

"We now look forward to adopting the recommendations made when we are considering planning applications and further development for the town."

Councillor Mosley added: "We would urge as many people as possible to look at the proposals and participate in the consultation so that the final decision can have massive support from the people of both Shrewsbury and Shropshire.

Prominence

"That will ensure that the overall plan comes to fruition over the next 10 to 15 years to maintain Shrewsbury's prominence within the county and region."

Some of the ideas mentioned include redirecting traffic from Smithfield Road through Raven Meadows, which would allow Smithfield to become "a pedestrian priority promenade".

The idea combines with suggestions for the future of the Riverside Centre, which was bought by Shropshire Council along with the Pride Hill and Darwin Centres earlier this year.

The suggestions are based around knocking down the centre and nearby multi-storey car park, building houses, offices and restaurants leading to a promenade "stepping down to the river".

There would also be improved streetscape along Castle Foregate and St Michael's Street, including landscape enhancement and improvements to the pedestrian and cycle link that follows the former route of the canal.

Parking and taxis would be removed from in front of Shrewsbury Railway Station to make way for a new station square and workspace and an office quarter north of the station.

In addition a new "Shrewsbury Design Charter" will give guidance and expectations on design quality to the development industry.