Future of town centre travel being debated at Shrewsbury Moves Festival
Free-to-attend panel sessions and talks exploring the future of movement in town centres, featuring an array of industry-leading speakers, will take place in Shrewsbury later this month.
The sessions will be held between 10am and 4.30pm on Friday, March 21, as part of the four-day Shrewsbury Moves Festival (March 20 to 23).
Shrewsbury residents and businesses are invited to reserve a spot or drop in throughout the day to Shrewsbury Business Suite, in High Street, for six interactive sessions on a range of topics, including the health benefits of active travel, how pedestrian-friendly spaces boost the local economy, and the case for accessible, inclusive public areas.
There will also be panel discussions looking at travel and movement in Shrewsbury town centre, and a session in which local young people will be invited to share how they would like the town centre to look in future.
Speakers will include Rhiannon Evans of Active Travel England, Rachel Lee of Living Streets and Kay Inckle of Wheels for Wellbeing.
The Shrewsbury Moves Festival is being organised by the Big Town Plan Partnership as a celebration of the future of movement in Shrewsbury and beyond.
The first two days will focus on “talking movement”, with an evening event hosted by Peter Walker, deputy political editor of The Guardian, on Thursday, March 20, along with drop-in talks and panels during the day on Friday, March 21.
At the same time, over three days from Friday, March 21, to Sunday, March 23, a festival in Shrewsbury Square will celebrate “all things movement” with a huge range of activities and displays, including hula hoops, skipping, cycling, rambling, yoga, dancing, music and more.
Seb Slater, executive director of Shrewsbury BID, which is part of the Big Town Plan Partnership along with Shropshire Council and Shrewsbury Town Council, said: “The centre of Shrewsbury is going to be absolutely buzzing and we are really pleased with how everything is coming together.
“The discussion on Thursday evening and the Friday workshops will feature some true leaders in their field, so I would urge anyone with an interest in how town centres can thrive now and in the future to come along and hear how we can bring Shrewsbury into the future while preserving the things that make it the wonderful town it is.
“We are very grateful to Liza Freudmann, of BLA Sustainability, for her hard work in bringing such an impressive range of people to share their experiences with the local community here in Shrewsbury, and to the team at Shropshire Festivals who are creating an amazing feast of active entertainment in The Square.”
The Shrewsbury Moves Festival is funded by the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and coordinated by the Shrewsbury Big Town Plan Partnership.
For more information and to reserve spaces on the workshops, visit shrewsburymoves.com
