The public consultation period on Shrewsbury Town Council’s priorities for the next five years has ended, after being extended to ensure that as many people as possible had the opportunity to give their feedback.

Councillors say the consultation has been “extremely encouraging” with hundreds of responses received, and the council is now starting to prioritise its plan before reporting back by the end of the year. 

Residents were asked for their views on the town council’s action plan, which set out six ‘strategic ambitions’ and followed on from the authority’s Vision Statement and Strategic Ambitions which were consulted on last year.

The areas of focus in the latest consultation were: Building resilient communities for Shrewsbury, supporting residents to live active and healthy lives through the provision of quality services, preserving the town’s heritage, creating a greener and better-connected Shrewsbury, maintaining a sustainable, resilient and efficient organisation, and taking positive action to tackle climate change.

Alan Mosley, Labour’s leader of Shrewsbury Town Council, said: “We are reaching the imminent completion of our previous highly successful Capital Plan. So, we have been working hard over the last 18 months to develop a vision and clear strategic ambitions to make our whole town an even better place to live, work, visit, play and do business.

“More recently we undertook a wide ranging public consultation on a substantial Action Plan for projects to implement over the next five years. The results of this have been extremely encouraging with over 500 separate responses with a very high level of support for our work and most proposals gaining very positive endorsement.

“These range from improvements to some of our local play parks to identifying services we can help protect in the face of Shropshire Council cuts. There is much support for our grants to charities and our work for safer streets and campaigning, such as for a clean river. Recreation grounds will be improved and our service for youth extended.

“Based on these public comments we will prioritise our plan and report back by the end of the year. Implementation will be challenging but residents can be sure that we will work in partnership with other stakeholders to maximise opportunities and they can be sure of value for money and high quality.’’

Councillor Rob Wilson said: “I want to thank all of the residents who took the time to give their views on the Town Council’s draft strategic plan. We all love our town, and want to work together to keep it as the best place to live. 

“It is clear that people value the work that the Town Council already does, and would be open to it looking into protecting and improving other services currently delivered by Shropshire Council. This will not be easy, but together we can keep our beautiful town flourishing.”