Market Drayton residents are to be consulted over the coming months on a £3.3 million “masterplan” to transform part of the town centre.
Details of the scheme, to include the long-awaited inner ring road linking Phoenix Bank with Stafford Street, are expected to be revealed at a public meeting in Hodnet next month.
The scheme could also feature up to 45 new homes, parking spaces, community and leisure facilities.
A planning application is expected to go before Shropshire Council next April, with work due to start in 2012.
Martin Allard, the council’s head of strategic highways and traffic, said: “There were two options put to the council, one being a straightforward resurrection of the inner ring road which we’ve been trying to deliver for a number of years.
“The other option was to deliver the road but also look to deliver a masterplan for the land around it.
“It’s a more comprehensive proposal to say ‘there’s a fine area of land close to the town centre which, potentially, the council could take a lead in developing’.
“There are a number of things within the project that we might be able to achieve, all of which have to be taken back to the point of whether we’re getting value for money for the investment we’re putting in.”
A committee set up to manage the transition to Shropshire Council approved the inner ring road project in February, with the money coming from capital receipts of the former district council.
Mr Allard said: “The process we’re currently going through will hopefully allow us to deliver a project through negotiation and agreement.
“I’m not saying it will please everybody but I hope it will get a general level of support from the town and be a positive thing for Market Drayton.”
Town councillors said they were excited by the scheme after discussing it at a meeting earlier this month.
Councillor Janet Smith said: “We’ve got a fantastic opportunity here and we’ve been waiting a long time for this.
“This isn’t going to come around again and we want to get it right for the people of Market Drayton.”
Shropshire councillor for Market Drayton David Minnery said: “I’m pleased to see that the process of developing proposals for the road and the area around it is on schedule and I’m confident that this scheme will bring new life to the town centre.”
By Winston Brown
