Better Shrewsbury Transport accuses council of "Breathtaking Financial Risk" over soaring North West Relief Road Costs

Campaign group Better Shrewsbury Transport (BeST) has responded to Shropshire Council’s latest announcement on the cost of the North West Relief Road by accusing the Conservative administration of planning to take a breathtaking financial risk over the soaring price tag.

In documents published earlier this week, the council revealed its medium term financial strategy which showed that the full cost of the North West Relief Road is now £215.12m, of which £151.51m still needs to be found. To date the council has spent £39m on the project without a spade in the ground.

Mike Streetly from BeST says: "Better Shrewsbury Transport has been warning Shropshire Council about the rising cost of this road for the last five years. Sadly, the Conservative leadership didn’t listen and chose secrecy over transparency.

"As a result, they now face almost £40m in sunk costs. The old adage is true: when in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging. But the near-bankrupt council still isn’t listening, even though there remains huge financial risk.

"Instead of facing up to the challenge they say the only way out is to plough on pouring more money into this black hole this even though they have no clear plan of where this money will come from."

On Thursday, the council announced it was among 30 local authorities which have received special permission from the Government for a ‘bailout’ that would enable them to borrow money to stave off bankruptcy.

The Exception Financial Support (EFS) packages allow councils to take out capital loans to fund revenue spending.

Mike Streetly added: "Pressing on with the road in these circumstances is a breathtaking financial risk for everyone in Shropshire. How much debt does the council want to take on and what further cuts will that mean to the already ‘pared to the bone’ revenue budget in future years?

"The current cost estimate of £215m is already months out of date and work won’t begin for at least another year, given that Shropshire has local elections in May and there are two Judicial Review applications waiting for the planning decision letter to be issued.

"With inflationary pressure mounting and complicated construction work including a viaduct over the River Severn likely to result in overrun costs, there is no upper limit on how much this road could end up costing. It’s already impossible to justify in economic terms, which is why all the opposition parties are against it.

The council has yet to publish the Full Business Case (FBC) for the NWRR which was promised in December, but has been delayed.

However, Highways boss Councillor Dan Morris has controversially shared ‘confidential’ excerpts from the FBC with external stakeholders to get their support for the project.

Mike Streetly says: "The council has refused to publish the Full Business Case ahead of the May elections. We know it exists because the head of Highways has been accused of sharing “confidential data” from it with external stakeholders like the NHS to garner their support for the project.

"The fact that councillors and the public aren’t being given access to the FBC remains a real cause for concern and shows that the administration’s secrecy continues unabated. In short, this whole project is an omnishambles of epic proportions."