Campaigners 'disappointed' by council's revised plans for proposed Shrewsbury North West Relief Road

Campaigners against Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road have reacted with ‘disappointment’ at Shropshire Council’s revised plans for the project.

Dave Green, a spokesperson for Better Shrewsbury Transport (BeST), said:

"From statements made by Highways Portfolio Holder Councillor Steve Charmley a few weeks ago, we were expecting major changes to the scheme. However, it seems that the revised plans are nothing more than greenwash. From our first look at them, they look like a pretty cynical attempt to sidestep residents’ concerns over the environmental and financial costs of this disastrous road."

The council’s amendments to the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road focus on changes to the bridge across the River Severn, reducing the lanes from three to two and removing a ‘crawler lane’ for HGVs, while shortening the length of the viaduct.

Mr Green says: "These revisions cannot change the fact that the road is fundamentally damaging to the environment. Even with the changes, the North West Road will emit loads more carbon than it could possibly save during its lifetime.

"We also note that in the small print of their announcement they admit that the £80M figure is based on their 2017 costs for the road which only last month we showed to be hopelessly optimistic by comparison to the published prices of other recent, comparable projects like the Congleton Link Road in Cheshire. 

"After the Shrewsbury shopping centre debacle, we do not have any faith in the council’s ability to budget for this multi-million-pound scheme properly, particularly not at the time when the council is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. If Councillor Charmley is convinced by the figures, will he personally guarantee that there will be no overspend?

"We have serious concerns that the new plans for the scheme will inevitably increase the risk of flood upstream as the viaduct has been partially replaced with an embankment in the flood plain. Apparently, the council hasn’t learned anything from its own climate emergency strategy, which highlights the increased risk of flooding in the county over the coming years."

BeST says it's committed to examining the revised documents that have been submitted to the portal – over 100 in total. In the meantime, though, the group is calling on the council to clarify the objection process.

Mr Green, added: "The council has yet to explain how this next round of objections will be handled or what the time frame is for them. We hope that the council will be contacting the 4000 plus objectors to the original scheme directly and will invite them to comment on the new proposals. We also hope that sufficient time will be given to the public to read and digest the raft of new documents. We remain convinced that this road is a disaster for the county and should be cancelled immediately."