Shrewsbury's Dingle garden to reopen with one-way system

Shrewsbury Town Council has drawn up plans to allow the safe return of visitors to the popular garden, which has been closed off to the public since the start of the coronavirus lockdown almost two months ago.

Town clerk Helen Ball announced at the council’s first ever remote meeting that the garden could be open again in a matter of weeks, in response to a question asked by a member of the public via the meeting’s live chat facility.

Ms Ball said: “The pathways within the Dingle are quite narrow so allowing for social distancing has been extremely difficult for us.

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“The plans that we have currently are that we are just in the throes of taking out the spring bedding and we will start after half-term week with putting the summer bedding in.

“Once all the summer bedding is in, we are going to open the Dingle and have a one-way in, one-way out system.

“We have four entrances into the Dingle so two will be exits and two will be entrances.

“It will probably mean that all the benches are out of action because they are so near the paths that we can’t get that two-metre distance.

“So hopefully we will be able to open it so everyone will be able to enjoy it, but it may mean there is a bit of restricted access.”

However, there are currently no plans to reopen play areas or the Quarry Splash Park.

Ms Ball said: “We follow government guidelines as to what kind of assets we can open and, as members of the public probably have seen, this week we have started to open some of the sporting facilities. Things like golf courses, tennis courts, bowling greens and croquet lawns will be open but there are quite significant social distancing rules.

“Government guidance so far is quite specific that play areas are to remain closed so we will continue to keep those closed until such a time that the government allows them to be open.

“That is the same for the Splash Park. Ordinarily we would have started to commission the Splash Park with a view to it opening at the beginning of May, but the contractor is on standby to potentially open it if restrictions are lifted.

“We will put the necessary measures in place as and when we are allowed to do so.”