Shrewsbury is shortlisted twice in the 2025 Visa Let’s Celebrate Towns Awards – and it’s one of only two towns across the UK to receive dual recognition this year.
Shrewsbury Moves, shortlisted in the Powering Change category
Two projects were entered into this year’s awards, submitted by Shrewsbury Business Improvement District (BID) and Shropshire Council on behalf of the Big Town Plan Partnership (BTPP), and both impressed the judges enough to land on the prestigious awards shortlist.
The two shortlisted projects are:
- Work in Shrewsbury, shortlisted in the Small Business Support category – a Shrewsbury BID initiative, part-funded by UKSPF, which invested over a hundred thousand into Shrewsbury’s small businesses in 2024 through a package of upskilling, business growth grants and expert masterclasses
- Shrewsbury Moves, shortlisted in the Powering Change category – a project of the Shrewsbury Big Town Plan partnership to make available new ways of moving around town, including a major eBike initiative bringing 240 subsidised eBike subscriptions into the town, funded through UKSPF
The Visa Let’s Celebrate Towns Awards honour and reward towns across the UK for initiatives helping local businesses and communities thrive. The awards shine a light on projects that demonstrate innovation, inclusivity, sustainability and economic resilience. Entries are judged by an expert panel made up of leaders from business, government and the third sector.
The winner in each category will receive a £20,000 grant to reinvest in local initiatives.
In 2024, Shrewsbury took home the top prize in the Infrastructure category, recognising the strength of its Big Town Plan partnership – made up of Shrewsbury BID, Shropshire Council and Shrewsbury Town Council.
To be shortlisted twice in 2025 highlights Shrewsbury’s continued leadership in town innovation and support.
Seb Slater, Executive Director of Shrewsbury BID, said:
“It’s really great news for our town to be shortlisted twice for these government-backed national awards and recognises a number of collaborative projects which are helping to make Shrewsbury one of the very best towns to live, work and visit in the UK!”
Councillor Rob Wilson, Shrewsbury Town Council leader and representative on the Big Town Plan Partnership Board, commented:
“It’s fantastic that Shrewsbury has been nominated for two awards and is testament to the hard work of so many people in the town. Shrewsbury Moves offers a progressive way of looking at how best to use limited space in a medieval town, co-developed following extensive consultation with the local community, it could be a blueprint for other towns across the country to follow.
“This has been supported by several other projects, but the most visible has been the eBike loan scheme. It has opened up cycling to a completely new audience, and soon we will see businesses joining the movement with eCargo bikes.”
Councillor Alex Wagner, Shropshire Council’s Deputy Leader and representative on the BTPP Board, added:
“It is great to see some of the best partnership working schemes in Shrewsbury – namely the BID and the Big Town Plan – getting the national recognition they deserve. We are much better at driving change when we all work together, and this is a real testament to the merit of that hard work.”
The double nomination marks Shrewsbury as a national leader in collaborative place-making, sustainable transport, and economic development.
A panel of expert judges will now decide on the six category winners, who will be announced at an awards ceremony held in the House of Lords later in July.
shrewsburybid.co.uk
shrewsburybigtownplan.org
Editor’s notes
Work in Shrewsbury
In April 2024, Shrewsbury BID secured UKSPF support via Shropshire Council for a major new project – Work in Shrewsbury (WISH), a campaign to support Shrewsbury’s businesses, boost inward investment and promote the town. Within the WISH campaign, we designed three programmes to support small businesses:
- The Evolving Business Cohort of 15 Shrewsbury start-ups, each participant receiving 20+ hours of structured support worth more than £780 per participant
- A suite of masterclasses, upskilling and training with global and local speakers delivering business insights and free training worth around £51,590 throughout 2024/25
- and the Future Shrewsbury Grants Scheme, which invested more than £139,000 of revenue funding into town centre businesses
workinshrewsbury.co.uk
Shrewsbury Moves
Shrewsbury Moves introduces bold ideas to make our town centre much more appealing for walking and cycling, offering more vibrant outdoor spaces for people to relish and businesses to thrive, while also revolutionising our public transport and improving access to the town by car.
Recent projects have included the Shrewsbury river taxi, eBike scheme, Cycle Pod installation and eCargo bike scheme for businesses.
In 2024, 240 eBikes were made available to Shrewsbury workers and residents on a much-reduced subscription cost of £10 per month. Over 900 people have applied for eBikes and feedback from users has been positive overall, with over 10,000 total KM cycled since the scheme began.
shrewsburymoves.com
For all media enquiries, contact:
EJ Hopson-VandenBos
Communications and Engagement Lead
Shrewsbury BID
ej@shrewsburybid.co.uk
