Seventy people attended protest against Shrewsbury North West Relief Road

Around seventy people attended a protest against the North West Relief Road (NWRR) on Ellesmere Road in Shrewsbury on Saturday.

Holding banners, flags and placards the protesters were joined by a BBC TV crew and local opposition party councillors including Julian Dean and Nat Green.

The protest aimed to highlight the damage the NWRR will do to the greenbelt around Ellesmere Road as well as draw attention to Shropshire Council’s unsustainable plans to unlock greenbelt land for housing developments along its route.

Mike Streetly from Better Shrewsbury Transport says: "Shropshire Council has said that the NWRR is designed to relieve congestion in Shrewsbury, but even before the road is approved developers are seizing the opportunity to plan hundreds of new houses along its route. The infill housing planned along Ellesmere Road is totally unsustainable. It will devastate the countryside around the edge of town and it will increase the number of cars on the road, destroying any argument that the NWRR will reduce congestion.

"Building new houses without any proper public transport infrastructure will result in further traffic misery for Shrewsbury residents. The 2020 Traffic Assessment addendum for the Shrewsbury West extension at Bicton suggested that adding just 49 houses to the development would create around 30 two way trips during the morning and evening peaks.

"By that logic, building 450 houses off Ellesmere Road will add 275 two way trips in the morning and evening rush hours. This will cancel out any benefit from the NWR to people on Ellesmere Road in terms of traffic reduction.

"No one is against building new houses, but they have to be in the right place and they have to be sustainable. If the North West Relief Road ends up creating even more traffic in Shrewsbury, then it won’t offer any “relief” at all."