Embargoed Feb 9, 2024 at 00:00:01. Two new plans are being submitted for the redevelopment of Shrewsbury's Riverside area. Councillor Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council's deputy leader answers questions about the project.
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00:00 Good to go? Yep. Can you say who you are? Yeah, Councillor Ian Nillans, Deputy Leader of
00:04 Shropshire Council. I'm involved with the big town plan and the redevelopment of
00:09 the Riverside, Smithfield Riverside project. Yeah, there's some exciting
00:13 developments in the plan? Yeah, there's a lot of excitement about this. We've already
00:17 had the first phase consultation which was about, all about the new park, the
00:22 demolition of the Riverside shopping centre and the Riverside practice and
00:26 the development of the new park and now we're moving forward to the next
00:29 exciting phase which will be the planning for the recreational use of
00:34 social and recreational food and beverage, cinema type use, potential hotel and
00:39 residential use in the remainder of the site. Does the council listen to
00:44 consultation? Of course the council listens to consultation. People think
00:48 they don't but we've got good examples of that from the first consultation where
00:52 there are some elements that people have came forward with. We want constructive
00:56 criticism. We do believe we've got a really good baseline to start from. We do
01:01 encourage people to come and give their opinions because that's what matters,
01:04 particularly keen on young people. You find out what they are because other people
01:08 are going to live with this for a lot longer than the likes of me. And where's the money
01:13 coming from? Well, this has been kick-started big style by the just shy of 19 million
01:18 pounds we had from the 11 and up fund. I mean clearly we've been planning this, our
01:22 shops have been planning this since 2018. So that money has really given a big kick-start
01:27 which will develop the first phase. Future monies will come from various
01:30 other developments from encouraging more funding from central government and
01:36 also from contractors or businesses who will want to invest. There are a lot of
01:42 investors who are keen to invest in Shrewsbury and we need to encourage and
01:45 run that in as well. Brilliant. And can you reassure the public that council that's
01:50 under such revenue pressure can take this project on? Yeah, it's very important
01:58 that we do measure out the revenue possibilities that have to be incurred.
02:03 Every project has revenue costs as well and every council is under
02:08 pressure, that's no secret. But the majority of this will be capital
02:11 money. The revenue we will work around as well to make sure this project is going
02:15 sustainable and it's an investment in the future of Shrewsbury.