Shrewsbury Parkway: Plans for additional railway station

Shrewsbury Railway Station would also see a new pickup and drop-off area created near the Buttermarket on Howard Street, as part of the plans

Shrewsbury could be set for a new railway station under plans to take traffic away from the town centre.

The new Shrewsbury Parkway station would see a rail stop on the east side of the town, aiming to reduce traffic at the main station.

It is part of a wider transport scheme for the town, which also includes a new hop-on, hop-off "water taxi" service to operate along the River Severn.

A public consultation on the plans will start later in January.

A total of 20 key improvement projects have been identified which, if adopted, would see the earliest changes begin to take shape over the next three years.

The proposals have been developed by Shropshire Council, Shrewsbury Town Council and Shrewsbury Business Improvement District.

'Ambitious and exciting'

They also include making the area within the River Severn loop more pedestrian and cycle friendly, and could see through routes for cars replaced by short "traffic loops" to move traffic in and out of the town centre.

Public transport will also be prioritised by creating two-way bus corridors through the town centre, and extend and improve the existing park and ride scheme.

Shrewsbury Railway Station would also see a new pick-up and drop-off area created near the Buttermarket on Howard Street, with the existing frontage redeveloped to provide a new public transport interchange.

"It's ambitious and exciting, and some of the proposals might be surprising, but I would urge everyone to take the time to consider them and how they would impact the town centre," councillor Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council Portfolio Holder for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, said.

"As is made clear throughout the strategy, we are not talking about closing roads to traffic, it's about considering a different approach to the way people travel in and around Shrewsbury."

The consultation will run until 22 March.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.