Campaigners vow to fight on against Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road

It follows the government’s pledge to fully fund the scheme, using money from the cancelled northern leg of HS2; and Severn Trent Water’s decision to trust Shropshire Council, as planning authority for the application, to address its concerns over the risk of the road polluting the town’s drinking water supply through planning conditions which would be written after the application is approved in principle.

Mike Streetly from Better Shrewsbury (BeST) says: "What a Halloween horror this is! Our council is so obsessed with building this road that it’s willing to ram it through planning on the 31st before anyone knows whether it will put our tap water at risk or not. This is residents’ worst nightmare come true. We’re prepared to fight this all the way to the bitter end, including a legal challenge. On the basis of recent performance, who would trust Shropshire Council to look after our drinking water?"

With a planning date now inked in, campaigners say there are still several hurdles for the road to get past. It is expected that in order to unlock government funding, a full business case will need to be submitted. This is likely to show a huge increase in costs, impacting the road’s value for money ratio and raising questions about the government’s commitment to getting the scheme built.

Mike Streetly says: "Increasingly the government’s promise to ‘fully fund’ the NWRR looks to us like a desperate attempt to save Daniel Kawczynski’s seat. The sad irony is that no amount of promises can restore faith in our MP, who has failed Shrewsbury over and over again. It’s no wonder, then, that Mr Kawczynski, busily claiming that he has personally secured the funding by ‘calling in favours’, is cheerleading the NWRR, a road that isn’t fit for purpose that will destroy our countryside; axe the iconic Darwin Oak; and take 130 years to be “net zero”. The NWRR is an environmental suicide note penned by the county’s Conservatives, which is why every opposition party is against it."

Speaking for Labour, Councillor Julia Buckley says: "Whilst the issues of congestion continue to blight our town and speeding rat-runs through our outlying villages, the latest announcement is unlikely to reassure residents that it offers a serious solution. Firstly, can any infrastructure announcement be trusted from this government in the light of HS2? And secondly, has the DfT fully costed the road (approx £200m) and the lifetime commitment to mitigating the water bore hole contamination?

"Residents and motorists in Shrewsbury need serious, practical solutions to our very real problems of congestion, air pollution, and dangerous speeding through village country lanes. The development of Battlefield industrial estate needs supporting with real, affordable, and practical measures to support residents, businesses, and motorists as soon as possible, not some pie-in-the-sky announcement to spend over £200m with little credibility."

Green Party councillor Julian Dean says: "Alongside what look like unacceptable carbon emissions, irreparable environmental damage, and dodgy traffic claims, it seems the people of Shropshire will now be asked to accept “planning conditions” to protect our water supplies. These conditions may well be difficult to enforce and add costs and further delay. Meanwhile, since August this year the council is describing many of the supposed traffic benefits as “potential,” “proposed,” and “opportunities”. This scheme looks increasing harmful, undeliverable and based on magical thinking. It’s shockingly irresponsible that a Tory minister would offer to underwrite this."

Liberal Democrat councillor Rob Wilson says: "I am very sceptical about the Government’s commitment to spend nearly £200m on transport infrastructure in Shropshire. However, if true, the council should be looking again at the priorities for the whole county and considering whether 4 miles of additional ring road around Shrewsbury is the best use of public money. It could be shared out across the county. This would mean £10m each for Bridgnorth and Oswestry, £7.5m for Ludlow and Market Drayton. However, Shropshire does not have an up to date Local Transport Plan, the last update was published 12 years ago. Shropshire’s Conservatives have been so focussed on their pet project that everything else has been ignored."

Shropshire Council’s Northern planning committee is set to meet at 2pm on Tuesday 31 October 2023 to consider the planning application for the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road.

The meeting will be held at Shirehall in Shrewsbury. For more information about attending, viewing, and speaking at the meeting, please follow this link to the Shropshire Council website.

The meeting agenda and reports will be published on Monday 23 October on the Shropshire Council website.

The officer report will include a recommendation to the committee.