Sustainable town centre

In the age of online retail, town centres have to offer more than just shops to remain relevant and to prosper. Leisure attractions and a diverse food and drink offer are becoming more important. Town centres also increasingly need to be seen as attractive places to live and work to sustain local shops and cafes.

Changing town centres

What happens in the spaces between buildings is becoming as important to achieving sustainability as what happens within them.

Successful town and city centres increasingly offer an environment that people want to come and spend time in. They're free from significant levels of traffic, safe, green, attractive and easy to walk or cycle around. They offer the opportunity for outdoor events, festivals, pavement cafes and restaurants. Shrewsbury’s current road network forces traffic moving between the north and west of the town into, and out of, the town centre, adding to congestion, noise and air pollution.

Complementing the Masterplan

The NWRR offers the opportunity to address this by significantly reducing the traffic heading into, and back out of, the town centre. It complements the Shrewsbury Masterplan Vision, Big Town Plan and Shrewsbury Moves strategy, reducing town centre traffic levels to enable a low-traffic town centre. It also complements the proposals in the Shrewsbury Moves strategy to increase the use of public transport, walking and cycling across the whole town by providing the opportunity to better prioritise public transport, cycling and walking for the shorter journeys that make up the majority of most people’s trips.

Delivering for Shropshire

We're focused on what's in the best interests of local communities. We understand our area and the challenges it faces and are committed to its future. We understand our responsibility to look at the bigger picture and deliver solutions that work best for everyone. We're clear that delivering the NWRR is the right thing for the future of Shrewsbury and its surrounding villages as thriving and prosperous communities.

Throughout the construction of the road, we’ll be keeping residents and businesses up to date, and seeking your input on how to make the most of the benefits it will bring to the county.