Shrewsbury is Shropshire’s principal county town and the main service centre for the sub-region. The medieval town centre reflects Shrewsbury’s rich architectural heritage.

Beyond this, northern Shrewsbury is dominated by road and rail corridors and as well as comprising a series of residential neighbourhoods, is the focus for the town’s manufacturing industries. The rail track severs the area and does not contribute to the local transport system as it passes through. The road corridor is a busy, congested route – undermining the effectiveness of Park and Ride and other bus services and the quality of life in the immediate locale. As a principal entry point to Shrewsbury, the area is characterised by development of varying quality, with areas dereliction, under-use and poorly maintained property, all set within an indifferent public realm. This creates a very poor image to visitors and investors, framing first impressions that do not do justice to the town’s inherent qualities.

The Regeneration Strategy presents proposals for improving the overall liveability of the area, whilst boosting local economic development and uplifting overall environmental quality. A ‘transect approach’ is used to guide design interventions, based on the recognition that the Northern Corridor forms a slice of the town’s evolution over the past 150 years. Proposals are specified according to a series ‘transect zones.’ Each zone is inter-linked via a series of thematic public realm improvements, giving an overall consistency to the future planning of the Northern Corridor whilst encouraging architectural distinctiveness along each segment of the transect.