Council agrees budget including park plan
A new public woodland could be created near the centre of a town.
Shrewsbury Town Council is in talks with Shrewsbury Colleges Group to buy the former Wakeman playing fields, with the intention to transform them into a public park.
Other schemes included in the town council’s 2021/22 budget, signed off by members on Monday evening, include a new nature trail, extending the ‘Shrewsbury In Bloom’ planting outside the town centre, and revamping an area of the Quarry.
Cycle and footpath improvements are also being planned, along with overhauls of tired play areas across the town.
Town Council leader Alan Mosley said it was to the credit of the authority that it had been able to set its sights high for the next financial year despite choosing not to increase its precept.
Councillor Mosley said: “Given the increasing financial hardship faced by so many families and individuals due to the pandemic and as we face an ongoing economic downturn, this is not the time to add to their burden.
“However, we have an exciting package for progress and expansion in the services we provide for Shrewsbury residents.
“We are able to do so thanks to good housekeeping, raising efficiency and sound planning and control by our excellent officers. We have strong capital reserves which we want to apply for long-term benefit.
“Climate change, the Big Town Plan, health and wellbeing are at the forefront of our plans.”
The approved budget for 21/22 is £3,679,021, against a projected income of £3,667,463. The £11,558 shortfall will be plugged by reserves.
The precept freeze means a band D property will continue to contribute £60.25 over the year to the town council.
One of the headline projects is the Wakeman playing fields, with valuation of the site currently being undertaken.
Councillor Mosley said: “This is going to be a major addition to our resources and to the health and wellbeing of our town.
“If we take this over, it will be possible to create a woodland park and also a green recreational site for people from most of the town, because it’s pretty central for a large number of wards.
“It will represent a significant capital investment but I think it’s well worth doing that, not just for the current situation but ongoing. It’s certainly got climate change implications as well as Big Town Plan benefits.”
Councillor David Vasmer said it was a “really exciting development”.
He added: “It would result in a dramatic increase in the amount of green open space available to residents throughout the town.”
Moving onto some of the other capital projects in the pipeline, Councillor Mosley said: “We are going to undertake a significant expansion of wildflower verges across the town, and that’s been one of the things that the public have greatly appreciated in recent years.
“We are also going to install more benches across the town and refurbish and improve and add to the bus shelters, and also look at putting more litter bins in various places across the town.
“We also want to take some of the floral impact of the Bloom out of the town centre and spread it into the important community hubs and along the main roads on the entrance into the town.
“We are going to continue our investment in footpaths and cycleways which we all recognise are increasingly used.
“The Castle Walk will be treated to a nature trail alongside the river and further afield, and we hope to put in a programme of liaison with schools in its design.
“The Quarry depot site will be transformed by removing the old dilapidated Victorian greenhouse and other improvements to the depot, revamping it and replacing it with a new garden feature.”
The contemporary new garden area will include interpretation of the history of the site.
Play areas, BMX tracks, skate parks and games courts across the town are set for major refurbishments, including those at Upton Lane, Kynaston Road, Mary Webb Road, Greenacres, Moston Road, Radbrook and Stanley Lane.
The town council has also set aside a further £75,000 for climate emergency initiatives to build on the excellent progress so far and a host of new in
There will also be an extension of the Quarry solar lighting scheme, and the town council has committed to working with Shropshire Council on a possible hydro-electricity project at the Weir.
The budget was unanimously approved. Councillor Mosley added: “It is a budget to bring improvements to all areas and one that we can be proud of.”
