Work paused on the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road

Shropshire Council has paused all work on the proposed Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR) following a meeting with one of the scheme’s main funding bodies.

Shropshire Council’s Leader Heather Kidd and Deputy Leader Alex Wagner met with officers from the Department for Transport (DfT) earlier this week, Monday 23 June, to discuss the scheme, seek clarity about funding and explore options with regard to its future.

The cost of constructing the road was originally estimated at £87.2m. Previously agreed funding is made up from:

- DfT Large Local Majors Funding - £54.4m

- The former Marches Local Partnership (LEP) funding - £4.2m

- S106 developer contributions - £8.6m

- Balance funded by Shropshire Council - £19.8m (NWRR) and £0.2m for the Oxon Link Road (OLR)

Due to planning delays, significant increases in global construction costs, and concerns with the scheme’s governance arrangements, cited as a ‘significant weakness’ by external auditors, the forecast costs of the scheme have increased substantially since the Outline Business Case (OBC). This means that there is a significant funding gap to complete the scheme.

Following an extensive procurement exercise, the scheme’s total cost, some eight years later, is now £215m.

During the meeting officers from the DfT confirmed that they would not award any more money than had been originally allocated to the project. Furthermore, the Local Transport Fund of £136.4m, originally mooted by the previous administration to fund the scheme, has been replaced with a Local Transport Grant totalling only £48m.

However, they also confirmed that the council would need to cancel work on the road before a formal discussion could proceed with Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood MP, the Department for Transport and other parts of central government about the £39m it has already spent on the scheme.

Councillor Kidd said:

“Through our conversations with the Department for Transport, it was made very clear that no more funding would be allocated to the scheme. This makes it simply unaffordable.

“As you can imagine, there are many implications for cancelling the road however we really have no choice.

“If we were to keep spending money by progressing the scheme, the funding gap would be huge – over £176 million that we really don’t have. As well as this, there are no guarantees that this cost wouldn’t increase further as time goes on.

“Borrowing that level of money is not a serious option given our financial position and the implications it would have for the rest of our budget and services.

“It’s because of this that we’ve made the decision to pause work on the scheme and machinery is now being taken off site.

“We now need to meet with the Minister to discuss the money the Council has already spent on the scheme and find an agreeable way forward.”

Councillor Rosemary Dartnall, Labour Group Leader said:

“It has long been obvious to the Labour Group of Shropshire councillors that the previous Conservative administration’s unfunded and unaffordable megaproject - to build a controversial relief road in northwest Shrewsbury – was a financial impossibility. Continued promotion of the project was based on a number of falsehoods about flimsy Government funding promises – nothing concrete, nothing in writing. The project has been managed secretively when it should have been fully transparent. The public have been misled. Clearly, this should never happen.

"The council’s new administration and the Department for Transport met and full clarity around the calamitous finances for the North West Relief Road has been confirmed in very short time. The sad truth is that £39m of taxpayers money has been wasted on developing this project, despite opposition calls to stop the spending. We wish the new administration well in discussion with Government about the £39m. We hope there will be relief available as the council’s finances are extremely tight.”

The meeting with the Minster is currently being planned.

Although the intention is to cancel the scheme due to its unaffordability, a final decision would need to be considered through a meeting of Cabinet and Full Council.