The car park in Raven Meadows on the gap between the Pride Hill and Darwin shopping centres has closed with the loss of 40 or so spaces I hear. The Council have sold the car park with 65 spaces on the former bus station site in Barker Street for re-development and that will be handed over on 1st July. So over 100 spaces in the town centre will be gone.

Is this a good thing as it will force more drivers to park at Frankwell, St Julians etc and so reduce pollution in the town centre? Or, will it lead to congestion as drivers hunt for a prized parking space?

Remove all car parks and most parking spaces from the town centre I say. And ban cars too. Only buses, emergency services, taxis, disabled users and delivery vans allowed.

And ban children too. Please. :)

Well, when the Sixth Form moves... :P

If ever there was a chance to create a nice town centre park where people can sit and have coffee that chance is coming up, Rowleys Mansion has been sitting in a vast sea of cars for too long now,so i say a big yes to getting rid of all those cars and start greening the town centre up a lot more.We used to have trees in the Square,Mardol Head and the Riverside shop area by wilko,the ones there have cut right down.There are some nice plastic ones in the Darwin centre .

Surely you don't remember Rowley's House being free of cars, avronb? If I recall correctly, from reading a town bio several years ago, the town's first-ever car park was in Barker Street in 1926... :)

Forget that, didn't you see that Morris has just been given the contract to build another sea of pastiche around Shoplatch and Rowley's Mansion. :(
They are going to recreate Romaldstone or something sounding similar.

The streets are supposed to follow the ancient pattern of the mediaeval days though whether the police architectural and crime reduction adviser would be too happy I'm not so sure. All those dark passages and hidden corners! :D

Surface car parking is a poor use of valuable town centre land in my opinion and creates big seas of unattractive 'nothingness' where we could have more shops, leisure facilities or residential buildings (or a mixture).

Personally I would prefer an extra couple of storeys on Raven Meadows and just a few on-street parking places for dropoffs/collections and people with impaired mobility. I know Raven Meadows is an eyesore but could the external appearance be softened with climbing plants or something? In any case, if it was removed, we'd only have to look at the Mock-tudor rear-end of the CD centre, possibly Shrewsbury's worst building :rolleyes:

I have a feeling that the new theatre might take on that role!

No, IMO Jonesy is quite right,the back of the Darwin Centre is a travesty. The theatre will be poor design/wrong site but not as bad as the mock tudor disney horror.

Surely the ugliest building in Shrewsbury is the Market Halls clocktower. What a waste of bricks

I would disagree. I think the tower is ok, it's what is below it that is the problem.

Agree 100% Old Codger,i think the tower is the only one in the country made of brick.

There are lots of brick clocktowers in the UK Avronb.

I suppose as people comment on these threads about cladding and such like these could have been the thoughts of people in shrewsbury years ago when the boring brick was brought into place. I much prefer the older wattle and daub timber constructions myself The brick has a lot to answer for.

Did you know that in Shrewsbury the square town clock tower only has three faces? Because the blank side faces Wales and when the tower was built no-one wanted even to give "the time of day to the welsh'' A bit of racism in shrewsbury? Goodness no!

I like the Market Hall, it works well with the timber framed buildings of Shoplatch and the Mardol is quintessentially 1960s architecture. The mock Tudor detailing of the back of the shopping centre is appalling, faceless blank windows, unreal, like the scenery backdrop to a theatre production.

Getting back to the origin topic, this is a link to the council's web page with details of their car parks. There is a file there with the new parking tarrifs.

http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/maps/p...reetparking.htm

It seems that if you choose to park in a car park in the town centre for one hour it will cost you 80p. However, if you decide not to pollute the town centre by parking in Frankwell for one hour and walking into town, it will cost you £1.

Anybody like to explain that one?

Anyone?

Whenever I visit Shrewsbury I park by the cinema. There you don't even have to pay... So why not just park there?

I'm sure Cineworld will be delighted to hear that :D

I think thats a good idea Ching.

Two different companies set the tarrifs. It does seem ridiculous though SABC I feel are not a very 'Green' council and are monegrabbing to pay for their effecient new 'blue' traffic wardens.

Thanks, Andy. I wasn't aware that there were two different companies running the car parks, under a franchise I assume. I'd heard of Park Right who cover other areas I believe. Which is the other company?

I was assuming by the town centre you meant Raven Meadows. Is this so Old Codger?

No, I was thinking of the surface car parks like Barker Street, The Tannery and St Austins where it's 80p for a hour whilst Frankwell's a £1. Abbey Foregate is 60p for a hour. I think you can park all day in Ludlow for that!

Sorry I misunderstood. I pay £1.10 for two hours at Rowleys. I think it is 80p an hour there. Youre right in assuming the 'imbalance'. I think the council takes us for a 'ride' personally. As I said before they dont really think 'green' they seem to want to justify the salaries of £18,000 per year for their traffic wardens.

Just to give you a laugh....

In Southend, they intend to build over all the existing car parks to create 'Brighton style mini boutiques'. They will create new car parks eventually but haven't figured out where to put it yet.
Hmm, there is a huge shortage of land available here for anything, let alone new car parks. Unless they intend knocking down the new university built right in the centre of town?????
I don't think the designers here have worked out that by making the town more attractive, as is their intention, and bring in more shoppers then there will be more cars not less. We have 160,000 people living in Southend alone, compared to your 96,000 and they haven't yet managed to agree to put in a park and ride. And we have beaches, an amusement park etc etc. There have been many unheeded public outbursts about this too.

Why can't they (yours and ours) figure out that some have to drive and park in the centre so make it easier for them especially if they car share and if they don't give them free park and ride? Doesn't take a genius to figure it out just an accountant to muff it up!

Gawd, they make you want to cry :lol:

You'd do that job for less???

No I just wouldnt do it at all Lemon, not my cup of tea. I was typing about the justification, never said it was too much. Do you work for the council or summat?

I reckon something happens to you when you wear a uniform for work. I have had two run-ins with the new blue wardens already
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