Shrewsbury Big Town Plan consultation extended
A consultation into the next stage of Shrewsbury Big Town Plan has been extended by an extra week for people to have their say.
More than 1,200 comments have been made on the Masterplan Vision, which outlines ideas for how Shrewsbury could develop over the next two decades, since the formal consultation was launched on January 20.
The consultation period was due to close on March 3, but members of the Big Town Plan Partnership, made up of Shropshire Council, Shrewsbury Town Council and Shrewsbury BID, have extended the deadline to March 10 to ensure as many people as possible can get involved.
Leader of Shropshire Council, Peter Nutting, said that even when the first formal stage of consultation closed on March 10, the aim was to provide more opportunities for engagement as Covid-19 restrictions were eased.
“We want as much involvement from the public and business community as possible,” he said. “The Big Town Plan needs to be shaped and owned by the community as a whole, which is why public engagement is so important.
“The Masterplan Vision is intended to act as a catalyst for discussion and debate, and the Big Town Plan Festival which was held at the end of January was a great way of setting out the context and background.
“We all now need to continue working together to help Shrewsbury evolve and change - standing still is not an option.
“I am looking forward to widening our engagement with people over the coming months as we will hopefully be able to meet face-to-face in a variety of ways.”
Alan Mosley, Leader of Shrewsbury Town Council, said the comments received were hugely appreciated and would enable the process to move forward.
“We are delighted that so many people have taken the time to give us their feedback, it’s been a fantastic response,” he said.
“When we launched the Masterplan Vision, we were keen to emphasise that it is designed to be a visionary document - it contains ideas about how things may change over the next two decades, it is not intended to outline specific projects at this stage.
“What this first round of consultation enables us to do is take the temperature of people regarding the various ideas discussed in the vision.
“People have been steadily adding comments throughout the six weeks, so we thought it was important to give an extra week to make sure everyone who wants to add a comment has time to do so.”
James Handley, a director of Shrewsbury BID, said he hoped people would continue to share their views over the coming months.
He said: “This first round of consultation has been really successful and has started some serious conversations about the future of our town.
“Accelerated by Covid-19, the nature and purpose of town centres is evolving, and this plan gives us a golden opportunity to work together to ensure businesses in Shrewsbury can continue to flourish over the next two decades.”
For more information and to have your say, visit www.shrewsburybigtownplan.org
