A leading businesswoman who launched a campaign to save Shrewsbury town centre last year says little had been achieved by the council in the last 12 months.
Ann DiTella, the owner of Shrewsbury’s Mad Jack’s restaurant and the Mytton and Mermaid Hotel in Atcham, launched her campaign last May after becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of footfall in Shrewsbury town centre.
The businesswoman blamed out of town supermarket chains and high parking charges for driving town centre trade away and urged council bosses to rethink its parking strategy to help independent retailers.
Her campaign immediately gained widespread support among the business community and led to several meetings between traders and council bosses to discuss possible parking concessions.
But despite the talks, Ms DiTella said today that little had changed in the last 12 months. “The frustration of trying to achieve anything with parking was too great.
“It would be interesting to know if the parking fees and fines equal the lost revenue with council tax on all the empty shops in the town centre.”
But a spokesman for the council said the authority had launched a number of schemes to boost trade.