Outdoor dining part of planned Oswestry regeneration

The proposals for Oswestry could see pavements widened, road layouts changed and a car park transformed into an outdoor dining area.

Councillors and business leaders hope the changes will help drive up footfall and complement other projects already underway to re-purpose vacant buildings and spruce up shop fronts.

Shropshire Council deputy leader Steve Charmley said the next few years would be a really exciting time for Oswestry, with a masterplan for the town expected to be published later this year.

Councillor Charmley, who sits on the Future Oswestry Group alongside town council and Business Improvement District representatives, said the group was keen to investigate how highways changes could be made to make the town centre more welcoming to shoppers and visitors.

One plan being put forward is to shut off Festival Square Car Park to vehicles, at least part-time, to allow the surrounding businesses to make use of the area for outdoor seating.

He said café culture had surged in popularity during the pandemic, but he added that this would need to be carefully weighed up against the loss of income the council would incur from the closure of the busy car park.

“You could just imagine a summer’s day, seeing it covered in tables and being really popular. There is a cocktail bar, noodle bar, cafés all around that could make use of it. Argos is closing across the road, that could become an eatery.

“It could put a new heart into this part of Oswestry and be a really welcoming area.”

Other proposals include alterations to the one-way system to allow roads to be narrowed and pavements widened, taking vehicles away from the Bailey Head and stopping the rat running up Bailey Street.

A funding boost of more than £1.8 million has been secured for town centre improvements through Historic England’s High Street Heritage Action Zones scheme, and Shropshire Council has now submitted a bid for even more cash from the government’s newly-launched Levelling Up Fund.

The scheme includes grants being made available to town centre business owners to improve their shop frontages, and Cllr Charmley said several of these were in the process of being signed off.

He added that a long boarded-up building in Church Street was expected to reopen in the near future, and other businesses in the town had plans to move into bigger, currently vacant, premises.

The Heritage Action Zone funding will also support a flagship project to re-purpose a derelict town centre building into a business support hub.

He said: “We are looking at the former B-Wise and Regal buildings. We have done feasibility on those to see what the cost to bring them up to scratch would be.

“I think all the facilities for a cinema are still in there, so maybe we could have a one-screen cinema in the downstairs, and move the council offices out of Castle View into top floor.”