Call to 'knock heads together' over long-delayed accessible Shrewsbury footpath

Town council leader Alan Mosley said heads needed to be “knocked together” to finally bring an end to the Dana footpath saga and get the new walkway, which will bypass the steep Dana steps, built.

The agreed route will see a new gated opening created in the historic wall near the top of the steps, taking pedestrians along the wall in the forecourt of the castle and emerging through an existing door on the castle drive.

Giving an update on the project at a meeting of the town council’s finance and general purposes committee, clerk Helen Ball said: “The Dana footpath work is still ongoing.

“The pathway is sorted out, but the anomaly is the retaining wall.”

Progressing the scheme relies on the co-operation of the two landowners, Shropshire Council and Shropshire Horticultural Society, and Ms Ball said all parties concerned were hoping to “get a resolution shortly”.

But Councillor Mosley said he was “very disappointed” that there were still hurdles to overcome.

He said: “People are very concerned it’s taken so long to get underway, and now we hear there seems to be relatively minor hindrances to it going any further.

“It’s long been recognised that the route would go through the wall.”

He said residents were “delighted” when the horticultural society agreed the final changes to the plans at the end of last year, as the path was “an important walking route in the town”.

Councillor Mosley said the project was also linked to plans to improve the area around the railway station, being bankrolled by Shropshire Council’s successful Levelling Up Fund bid, and had also been identified as a priority in the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).

Councillor Mosley said he had been in touch with Shropshire Council’s Shrewsbury programme manager Tim Pritchard to voice his concerns over the latest delays.

He said: “I would ask all concerned in getting this underway to get together to ensure that whatever needs to be done is undertaken very quickly so this route can be diverted, and give a really attractive route that will add to the amenities of the town.

“I have written to Tim Pritchard myself to say please can heads get knocked together so whatever barriers there are to getting this underway are removed as quickly as possible.”

The town council set aside £50,000 towards the project in 2017, and planning permission was granted the same year.

However the campaign for a new step-free route has been going on for decades, with plans first lodged in 2003 and again in 2010.

The council says it will make it easier for pedestrians – particularly those with mobility issues, prams and shopping trolleys – to get between the town centre and Castlefields.