New entrance needed for Shrewsbury retail park

Mark Wooton, Shropshire Council's north & central manager for developing highways, has written to the authority's planning department to outline concerns over the impact that a proposed new Sports Direct store at Shrewsbury's Meole Brace Retail Park will have on traffic.

In the letter he says the mitigation measures planned as part of the development do not address the congestion issues at the park and that a secondary access or exit "should be considered in the longer term".

The site for the new Sports Direct shop on land that has been suggested as the only way of creating a second entrance to the park, and relieving the queues for shoppers visiting or leaving at busy times.

In his letter Mr Wooton lists a number of questions that need answering before the highways department can back the scheme.

It is also suggested that if the Sports Direct store goes ahead then the only opportunities to improve access would be using a service road behind units to the east and Sainsbury's, or widening the current entrance by using land next to Pizza Hut

The letter states: "The development of the northern area of the retail park has curtailed any opportunity to provide a secondary access or exit other than consideration of utilising the servicing corridor of land to the rear of Sainsbury’s and Units 1 to 7. This would be a major project consideration, perhaps outside of the scope of this application but nevertheless should be considered in the longer term. There are perhaps more immediate opportunities to consider land alongside Pizza Hut within the current landscaping area in order to improve entry into the site. This may be outside of the controlling scope of the applicant but overall there are clearly mutual benefits all round to the customer experience for those attracted to the retail and food offer on the retail park."

Mr Wooton also outlines concern from the council that the traffic problems at the retail park will reduce any improvements in traffic flow brought about by the controversial multi-million-pound redevelopment of Meole Brace Roundabout.

He states: "The sole entrance to the retail park is off Hereford Road, just a few hundred metres from Meole Brace Roundabout. Although the application does put forward some internal mitigation measures, which are welcome, it is considered that these should be revisited. The mitigation measures do not, in the highway authority’s view, address the core traffic flow issues of traffic entering and exiting the retail park from Hereford Road. In short, the application as submitted merely seeks to address the specific impacts of the development without first acknowledging the fundamental and significant traffic issues that exist on Hereford Road. The highway authority would point out also Meole Brace roundabout is currently being remodelled, soon to be complete, with more intelligent traffic signalling being installed. The highway authority is concerned that improved efficiency of traffic at this junction will be adversely impacted upon by the traffic problems which exist at the retail park entry and exit."