Views sought about new Oswestry shop front design guide

Shropshire Council has today (2 December 20024) launched an eight-week public consultation on a draft Shop Front Design Guide for Oswestry.

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

The Design Guide was produced in collaboration with the Oswestry and District Civic Society by the Future Oswestry Group partnership between Shropshire Council, Oswestry Town Council and the Oswestry BID, and as part of the successful Oswestry High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) scheme with Historic England.

Shropshire Council is now consulting until 24 January 2025 to gain the views of businesses and the wider community in the town.  The council will then finalise the guidance in response to comments raised and look to formally adopt the Design Guide in February next year.

Chris Schofield, 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 designed shop fronts are creating problems in our market towns 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.

The consultation can be found on the Shropshire Council website.

The consultation was agreed by Shropshire Council’s Cabinet at their meeting on 20 November 2024.