Invisible lasers plan to count Shrewsbury shoppers

The lasers would be set up on the entrance to Shrewsbury Market Hall and on points on Pride Hill and High Street – two of the town's busiest outdoor streets – in a bid to monitor visitor numbers.

The idea is being investigated by Shrewsbury Town Council, which plans to use £10,000 awarded to the town as part of the national high street improvement process spearheaded by retail guru Mary Portas to pay for the footfall counters.

Similar technology is already used in major shopping centres throughout Britain. Officials at Telford Town Centre use a camera and computer system to calculate the amount of people using the malls.

Helen Ball, clerk of Shrewsbury Town Council, said the machines would help to gather information about how events staged in the town centre were affecting visitor numbers. She raised the idea with councillors at a meeting of the authority's recreation and leisure committee earlier this week.

Shrewsbury is part of the Portas Town Team Partner programme launched by the Government last year to support those towns not chosen to be part of the retail expert's bid to revive central shopping areas.

Mrs Ball said: "We would like to explore the possibility of putting in footfall counters to provide information about how people move around the town and how events either increase the number of visitors or, as some people suggest, they don't."

Mrs Ball said if the council invested funding to buy the counters, there would continue to be running costs involved in getting the data analysed.

She said discussions could take place with Shrewsbury's Business Improvement District steering group about whether it would be able to pay for the revenue costs of the counters.

The Bid scheme would see traders in Shrewsbury agree to a rise in their business rates, with the cash being used to fund improvements in the town centre.

Councillor Beverley Baker said she approved of the plan, and added all feedback about the situation in the town centre was "helpful".