Oswestry and Shrewsbury in running for slice of £675 million
Two Shropshire towns have been chosen to go forward in a bid to secure a slice of a £675m government fund.
Shropshire Council’s cabinet will be asked next week to support plans to select Oswestry and Shrewsbury to go through to the next stage of the Future High Streets Fund programme.
The objective of the fund is to renew and re-shape town centres and high streets in a way that improves experience, drives growth and ensures future sustainability.
The local authority has been asked to select two towns to put forward to the next phase and invited bids from town and parish councils around the county.
A panel considered the bids and have made a recommendation that Oswestry and Shrewsbury are chosen.
Mark Barrow, executive director of place at Shropshire Council, said it was expected that the government would award between £5 million and £10m to each successful town, but it could be anywhere up to £25m.
“We will push towards the upper end of the scale for our two towns,” he said.
“There is an element of match funding and our towns are in a really good position. We can already demonstrate funding with the Big Shrewsbury Town Plan and investment in the shopping centres in Shrewsbury, and in Oswestry the town council already has windfall funding.”
