Shropshire Star

Lidl developers put forward match day plans for store near Shrewsbury's Greenhous Meadow

Extra stewarding, improved bus services and parking time limits would help ease any "conflicts" between shoppers and football fans if a supermarket is built, developers claim.

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Greenhous Meadow

A plan to manage match day traffic has been revealed by Lidl, which hopes to build a store on Oteley Road in Shrewsbury, responding to concerns from Shropshire Council's Highway Authority.

The proposals for land next to Shrewsbury's Greenhous Meadow were submitted to Shropshire Council in January, but have been criticised by highway officers who said the plans did not explain measures to control vehicles on match days.

However, JMP Consultants Ltd, on behalf of Lidl, claimed a number of initiatives have been considered to ensure traffic wouldn't be a problem, despite peaks and spikes in match day attendance.

The document said: "Pedestrian access through the Lidl site will be carefully managed to ensure that any potential conflicts between match day attendees and vehicles accessing the Lidl store is minimised.

"Shrewsbury Town Football Club already implement stewarding arrangements on match days including a presence at the car park entry point from the Stadium Access Road. With the Lidl store in operation, it is proposed to add extra stewarding resource to the car park entry point and at the additional pedestrian access points for the food store to assist with traffic flow on match days to both sites and to direct STFC pedestrian movements away from accessing through the Lidl car park."

Developers also say that a limit of 90 minutes will be in operation at the Lidl car park at all times to deter match day attendees from using the car parking facilities.

The land earmarked for development is currently owned by Shrewsbury Town FC, and bosses say it could lead to a re-shuffle of playing facilities surrounding the stadium, and a community 4G pitch set up on the current first team training pitch.

Meanwhile, Lidl recently revealed three-quarters of people who responded to a survey sent to homes in the Shrewsbury area said they supported the plans for a new store off Oteley Road. It said the response to the plans had been "fantastic" and that more than 40 jobs would be created if the supermarket was built.

The German discount supermarket chain has also offered a S106 agreement – a payment made by a developer to the local authority to improve infrastructure – to build new bus stops at the site.

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

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