Group insists gates should be discussed in bid to improve Shrewsbury river safety
The Shropshire Playing Fields Association has re-iterated its call for gates along stretches of the River Severn in Shrewsbury.
The association says it first raised its concerns 10 years ago and that the recently published report into safety around the River Severn has failed to discuss the "important role gating or lack of gating has to play in helping to prevent future tragedies".
Secretary, Mr David Kilby, said there should be discussion about the lack of gating between the stretch of the river between the Greyfriars bridge in Coleham and the weir in Castlefields, and the area from the Welsh Bridge to Porthill Bridge on the Frankwell side of the footpath.
He wrote: "We request that the report should include discussion related to: installing improved design gates at the Greyfriars Bridge and the Weir; installing gates at Waters Lane to help control access along towpath; installing a gate from Victoria Street leading down to the river; installing two gates either side of lock-up garages along the footpath near Castle Walk Bridge.
"In addition to the gating issue, we would like closer scrutiny and more discussion to be given looking at the ongoing management, maintenance, operational procedures, and design aspects for these two specific stretches of the river, which the report clearly indicates are the two areas most responsible for the highest number of riverside incidents occurring to date across the whole of Shropshire.
"Our first correspondence on this matter goes back to October 2012 when as an association we were actively lobbying for the installation of a river footpath between the New Meadow development and Castle Walk play area.
"We have over the last decade voiced our views on this same gating point to coroner John Ellery... at a full Shropshire Council meeting in December 2015 as a public question, and which we expressed again in 2018 via telephone and in 2019 in writing to Ian Walshaw, highways manager at the time.
"We believe it would save lives in the future."
The association has asked Shrewsbury Town Council to discuss the gating issue at its meeting on Monday night.
