Shirehall puts brake on Shrewsbury relief road
Thursday 5th August 2010, 9:22AM BST.
Shirehall leaders have, as expected, agreed to halt any further work on plans for Shrewsbury’s North West Relief Road.
The previous Government signalled support for the £100 million scheme and it had a high rating among regional transport priorities.
But the project is currently on hold along with other major schemes across the country, pending the outcome of the coalition Government’s spending review.
The Shropshire Council cabinet yesterday agreed a recommendation from officers that no further work be undertaken on the scheme until details of the spending review are known in October and subsequent discussions are held with the Department for Transport.
Councillor Mike Owen, moving the recommendation, said there was a “clear view” that there was a traffic problem in Shrewsbury which needed to be addressed. But it was “not appropriate” to spend any more money at this time on developing the relief road plans.
Councillor Owen said that if the building of the road was some years off, alternative measures would be needed to alleviate traffic congestion.
The council would have to have a programme that was “effective and deliverable” within available funding.
Since April, £172,000 has been spent on developing the road scheme.
A report to cabinet said new measures could include a traffic signal control system which responded “intelligently” to traffic conditions, public transport and junction improvements, and more cycling and walking routes.
The report added: “Delivery and timing of such a programme would be dependent on contributions from developers and a possible package bid to the Department for Transport.
“The level of support from DfT to such proposals will not be known until after the outcome of the comprehensive spending review.”
Councillor Alan Mosley, chairman of the watchdog community services scrutiny committee said members would be considering the issue at their September meeting.
Last month the committee was told there was not a “snowball in hell’s chance” of money being found to build the relief road.
There was also a warning from Tom McCabe, director of community services, that the council might have to spend up to £10 million on developing plans before the first sod of the road was cut.
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Yes!
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Thanks alot, even more misery for this ridiculosly gridlocked town.
Where is the common sense here???/
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You’ve just witnessed the common sense.
They have been told not to spend £100m on a road!
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Yeah and what about the town being a nightmare to drive through, common sense is that you sort it out now. Thats the problem with Shrewsbury its full of people who cannot see the bigger reality picture. If you want a town thats thrives on trade, traders and business, then sort out the traffic and congestion problems.
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gridlocked!!!?!?! what planet do you live on mitchell, i drive into shrewsbury every day and its fine, try living in brum or london m8!
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Typical Council. No common sense.
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“Typical Council. No common sense” What a ridiculous thing to say. Another unintelligent, single brain celled effort at a pop at the council. Surely it is common sense not to spend any more Council time on this project if the funding from central government is not there to carry it through.
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As I said – “No common sense”.
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The funding is there though they just won’t admit it. Like i said before, Shrewsbury needs trade, traders and business to survive. You cannot do that if the whole town is a logistical nightmare. No one wants to come shopping here because they know it’s difficult to get in and get out. The council need to think very carefully about this, they rant on about new shops and business but where are they?
thats right they are still stuck in traffic on Ditherington road, coton hill, abbey forgate, franwell and every other major route in and out of the town.
POOR DECISION ALL ROUND.
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good news, lets hope they put the money saved into the A5 to Oswestry instead! now that really needs improving
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a prudent decision, there are more cost effective options like the cycling promotion which has increased cycling by 11% in shrewsbury instead
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“A report to cabinet said new measures could include a traffic signal control system which responded “intelligently” to traffic conditions, public transport and junction improvements, and more cycling and walking routes.”
Surely these should have been the first choice rather than going straight for a new road? I’m thrilled that it has been scrapped.
The money would be better spent electrifying the railway line than a new road, it would probably lead to greater benefits for more people.
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I totally disagree that Shrewsbury is a “gridlocked” town. Having lived in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Chester, Bath & Oxford I can honestly say Shrewsbury is an absolute dream to drive through.
I work an evening shift, and have to drive through the town centre at “rushhour” between 5-6pm. It’s rare that it takes more than a few minutes. Journeys of the same distance in any of the above places would take much, much longer.
Given the current economic climate I think the council are right on this one.
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i agree with you on Oxford, its crazy and the parking is ridiculous
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common sense has prevailed , the road would have been too damaging environmentally it wasnt just green belt fields it was a SSSI and Ramsar site on the line, they must be no go areas for ever.
What we should ask now is why didnt this decision get taken years ago, it was pretty obvious really that Shrewsbury was never going to be a priority for national funding, i mean im a proud salopian born and bred and would love to think Shrewsbury would always come first but get real, the population here is what 1% of the population of london, the air quality here is miles better, the queues in peak time are what 4 or 5 mins here, in Birmingham you have to sit for like 30 minutes in traffic, we need to get real Shrewsbury is way way down the national list of polluted/congested/unsafe places which need emergency bypass surgery, it would never be a national priority
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For the very few occasions that Shrewsbury has traffic problems it is not worth spending all that money and damaging the beautiful areas the road would go through. There are some very selfish people out there who want this road. There are plenty of ways to avoid the centre, stop being so lazy.
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halilujah!
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