Countryside campaigners are urging the Government to scrap all plans for Shrewsbury’s multi-million pound North West Relief Road and put the money into public transport.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England in the West Midlands is also calling for proposals for the Hereford Outer Bypass to be scrapped.

The group says it was disappointed when regional funding advice was agreed by the Joint Strategy and Investment Board, which is made up of six council leaders and three members of the board of Advantage West Midlands.

It was submitted to the Government and is being considered by ministers.

Even if funding is granted, proposals would still have to go through the normal planning processes.

The CPRE says the Shrewsbury bypass would cut a swathe through the high quality landscape around the historic town and could increase traffic over time.

They also question whether the roads could be started on the Government’s 2014 timescale – something the Department for Transport has said it would be looking closely at when assessing schemes.

Gerald Kells, regional policy officer for CPRE West Midlands, said: “What the region needs is improvements to public transport and projects which reduce climate change emissions, not un-thought through schemes which have huge impacts on the countryside.

“Ministers need to look closely again at the region’s wish list and remove schemes which do not show a commitment to protection of vulnerable landscapes and real carbon reductions.”

In 2008, it was revealed that the Shrewsbury relief road costs had risen to £92 million and that £6 million had already been spent on drawing up plans.

The road, if it opens, will run for almost four miles from the A5 bypass at the Churncote roundabout and cross over the River Severn to the Battlefield Link Road.

A possible relief road has been discussed for more than 20 years.

It was originally to have been funded by the council’s congestion charging Transport Innovation Fund scheme but that package was scrapped.

By Rebecca Lawrence