Hundreds of journeys forecast to Shrewsbury's Flax Mill

Developers behind plans to transform the 18th century building in Ditherington have made the claim after putting forward ways to manage the travel arriving at the site.

It comes after neighbours said they feared it could have a huge impact on their lives.

The plans to redevelop the Flax Mill will see the building used as both offices and public spaces, which could potentially bring a total of 280 people in small business units to the site.

There will also be a visitor centre interpreting the building and surroundings, 98 car parking spaces to the rear of the building, a further 56 car parking spaces in a temporary car park and nine disabled car parking spaces on site.

IMA Transport Planning, on behalf of Historic England, put forward a plan to manage the transport which will be used – should the proposals be given permission.

In its plan, IMA said: "It is forecast that, once all four floors are occupied there will be 257 vehicle journeys daily each way to and from the site.

"This represents 71.5 per cent of the total.

"The second most common modes are walking and cycling with just over 17 per cent between them."

Earlier this month, people living on Marshall's Court in Shrewsbury, whose homes face the site, said increased traffic will lead to extra noise, cause access problems and lead to an increased danger for children playing in the street.

Some feel that using what is known as the "old railway triangle" for parking will change the "feel" of the street, and will make the area very busy.

In a bid to manage the extra traffic, IMA said the developers will encourage workers to cycle and walk to work with cycle storage, showers and wet-rooms available at the site.

It added that car share will be encouraged through the Shropshire and Telford Car share website and through networking among occupiers of the building.

Meanwhile, Tim Johnstone from Historic England recently said he would be writing to the householders to allay their fears but added that outline planning permission to build a car park on the land had been granted in 2010.

The 1797 mill is known as the world's first iron-framed building and has been surrounded by scaffolding for years.

English Heritage, now called Historic England, took over the site in 2005.

Similar plans to those under consultation today were given permission and the mill was awarded grants of £19.4 million in 2013.

But delays meant there were issues accessing some of the money.

The plans are available to view on Shropshire Council's website.