A survey to identify empty premises in Oswestry town centre and bring them back into use has been welcomed.

The fieldwork and survey will be carried out by the Future Oswestry Group – the partnership between Shropshire Council, Oswestry Town Council and Oswestry BID – this summer.

Shropshire Council's deputy leader, Steve Charmley, said the work is "an important first step" in turning around the decline of the town centre.

Cllr Charmley, who is Cabinet member for assets, economic growth and regeneration, continued: "Unfortunately Oswestry’s bid for funding from round one of the Government’s Future High Street Fund was unsuccessful as the process was very competitive.

"However, by actively working together as part of the Future Oswestry Group we’ll be able to progress and deliver a number of activities and projects which will benefit and boost the town.

"This survey is an important first step.”

The Future Oswestry Group, which held its first meeting in May, is helping to deliver activities and projects that will benefit the town, its residents and its businesses.

Oswestry BID will use the data collected in the new survey to identify past and present trends for Oswestry town centre, which will be used to develop a plan to help town centre businesses reverse the national trend of town centre decline, while Shropshire Council will use the data to benchmark Oswestry against other Shropshire towns.

Adele Nightingale, Oswestry BID manager, said: "Town centre businesses across the country are struggling to survive and Oswestry is not immune to this trend.

"The larger high street retailers are increasingly retreating from town centres and we need to develop a plan for Oswestry to fill the gaps they have left and restore a vibrant town centre in a sustainable form.”

Councillor John Price, Mayor of Oswestry, added: “While we were disappointed not to receive the Future High Street funding the application process itself has brought a momentum to tackling longstanding issues, such as empty premises in the town centre.”

Paul Milner, Shropshire Councillor for Oswestry South, said: “I was disappointed to learn that Oswestry was unsuccessful in its bid for part of the £675 million of funding that’s available through the Government’s Future High Streets Fund as this new money could have given our high street a major boost going forward.

“Even though Oswestry was not successful in its initial bid I welcome the work that is now going to be carried out this summer by Shropshire Council, Oswestry Town Council and Oswestry BID working together to identify and reduce the number of empty shops, which in turn will increase the amount of footfall and increase the vibrancy of our town centre.”