New road planned for Shrewsbury town centre given go-ahead as part of Riverside redevelopment
A new road can be built as part of the Smithfield Riverside project in Shrewsbury – but only after it was approved by a small minority.
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Members of the Northern Planning Committee met on Tuesday afternoon (February 18) to discuss the highway works surrounding the former Riverside Shopping Centre.
The scheme includes junction arrangements at Smithfield Road and Raven Meadows, a re-located bus layby in Smithfield Road, service arrangments, and associated highway works.
Shropshire Council say the work – which will support the public park that is currently being constructed – have been designed to reduce the volume of traffic movements along Roushill. A new road, named ‘The Avenue’ is proposed to accommodate traffic that currently uses Rousehill to access Ravens Meadows.
The majority of the committee members (five) supported the officer’s recommendation to approve it, with three abstaining and one voting against.
An earlier vote to defer the application was defeated by five votes to four.
“I just cannot understand why it’s come here in part,” said Councillor Roger Evans, co-leader of the Liberal Democrats.
“I want to know what’s happening there. We’re a planning committee for Shropshire, and Shrewsbury is a major shopping centre.
“What do we, as a committee, want for this high prestige place in Shrewsbury? We’re having enabling registrations and enabling applications a bit at a time.
“We should be doing it all at once, the best we can, and we’re not. Why can’t we build in the cycle lanes now instead of having to come back?”
However, Councillor Vince Hunt, vice-chair of the committee and chairman of Shropshire Council, said members “were making more of this than they need to.”
“This is an application that is just marking where the entrances and exits are going to be or moved to,” said Cllr Hunt.
“It’s not about how they’re eventually going to end up. I don’t expect there’s going to be many cyclists pedalling around there over cobble stones or when the works are ongoing.
“At some stage in the future, it will be determined what they’re going to look like when it’s finished.”
