Drop-in event as part of Oswestry shop front design consultation

A drop-in event is being held in Oswestry on Wednesday 15 January [2025] as part of an eight-week public consultation into a draft Shop Front Design Guide for the town.

The draft Design Guide is aimed at current and future shop owners, together with their architects and agents, but will also support decision-making through the planning system.  It provides additional guidance in relation to existing planning polices and is intended to inspire and raise the bar of good design.

The consultation event is at the Memorial Hall, Smithfield Street from 3pm to 6pm on 15 January. It’s being held by the Future Oswestry Group – a partnership between Shropshire Council, Oswestry Town Council and the Oswestry BID – and is a chance to discuss the document with officers from the three organisations.

The Design Guide, produced in collaboration with the Oswestry and District Civic Society, is a legacy of the successful Oswestry High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) scheme with Historic England.

It’s intended as a practical guide and includes examples, case studies and links to useful resources.

Chris Schofield, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for planning and regulatory services, said:

“We are really looking forwards to hearing people’s views on our Draft Shop Front Design Guide.  The Oswestry HSHAZ project has made a huge difference to Oswestry town centre, helping to ensure it remains vibrant despite the difficulties we have experienced with Covid and the cost of living crisis.

“The Design Guide will provide planning guidance that will help us to continue this legacy. More widely, poorly design shop fronts are creating problems in our market town across the county. We see this document as a template that we could use to work with town councils and the business community and adapt for other town centres.”

The HSHAZ programme finished in March this year and has delivered a £2.1m package of improvements within Oswestry town centre, which included 16 enhanced and reinstated shop fronts.  As part of the legacy of the scheme, Oswestry Town Council have now established their own Bringing Empty Properties to Life’ grants programme.

You can find details of the consultation on the Shropshire Council website.

Shropshire Council is consulting on the draft guide until 24 January 2025 and will then finalise the guidance in response to comments raised, before looking to formally adopt the Design Guide in February.