Vibrancy of Whitchurch high street focus of plan

The town has completed its Local Growth Economic Strategy document with Shropshire Council, which will now be looked at ahead of being adopted.

The strategy is documents are designed to set out commitment and ambitions to grow the county’s economy going forward.

They are put together by Shropshire Council, parish councils and local businesses and residents.

The Shropshire council is currently is working with the county’s key market towns to develop action plans for economic growth going forward.

Interest

And Whitchurch is leading the way so far, Lisa Ashby, one of the Shropshire Council officers working on the scheme, said.

She told a meeting of the council’s place overview committee: “We are working with the key market towns, Oswestry, Whitchurch, Market Drayton, Bridgnorth, Shifnal and Ludlow.

“Other smaller areas can feed into it as well and have shown interest.

“It is not a statutory thing, but has been welcomed. Whitchurch and Oswestry are now pretty much there in terms of drawing up their plans, Whitchurch has gone in while Oswestry’s will be looked at by the town council before coming in in March.

“The issues for Whitchurch are sustainable growth and capitalising on what benefits it already has, such as maintaining the vibrancy of the town centre.”

Councillor Andy Boddington, who represents Ludlow North on Shropshire Council, said he felt the plans could be “really useful” if done correctly, but the meeting heard that some towns had already begun their own schemes.

Gemma Davies, head of economic growth, added: “The strategies are at different stages of development, with four out of the six strategies nearing completion. The final plans are expected to be complete by the end of March.

“While the local economic growth strategies are centred on the larger market towns, they are not confined by ward boundaries and therefore take in the wider hinterland and surrounding geography.

“The strategies are focused on the delivery of economic growth and will fully align with other documents such as the place plans and other statutory documents which fall under the local plan review work, all of which will take into consideration allocations, together with housing and employment land requirements.

“The feedback gathered from the workshops to date has been extremely beneficial in helping to inform the strategy, vision and action plans.

“The workshop held in Ludlow was particularly successful and well attended, with Philip Dunne MP also taking part in the session.

“Action plans covering each priority are currently being produced which will set out economic growth delivery within the strategies.

“Feedback sessions are being programmed in with the town councils to introduce the drafts and circulate for comment.”

The committee decided to keep supporting the project going forward and will look at it again when more detail is available.

Report by Andrew Morris, local democracy reporter