Highway chiefs hail £1m Shrewsbury relief road aid
Highways bosses at Shropshire Council have hailed a near £1 million award to Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road project as "a positive development".
Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in Wednesday's Autumn Statement that up to £942,000 was to be allocated to the project to fund a business case to be prepared.
Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski said he was pleased with the award and it is thought the business case will be sent to the Department for Transport early in 2018.
Today Simon Jones, Shropshire Council's member for highways and transport,
said: "This is great news and we're delighted the bid for funding for a North West Relief Road business case has been successful.
"One of just six successful bids nationally, this funding will allow Shropshire Council to undertake a full and comprehensive refresh of the evidence base, and then develop a business case for the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road.
"Though this award doesn't give any automatic future endorsement of the NWRR at a national level, or any access to future construction funding at this stage, it is clearly a very positive development.
"The NWRR remains on Shropshire Council's strategic schemes list as a priority in need of further development work.
"The award under the Local Majors Fund is to be very much welcomed at this time therefore, as this will allow an update on historical data, and also put the idea of the NWRR into a current setting where such initiatives as the Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Package and the Oxon Link Road are now programmed for delivery over the next five years."
The funding bid was made by Shropshire Council and endorsed by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
The North West Relief Road project was one of just six projects across the country to be awarded business case development funding under the latest round of the Local Majors Fund.
The business case is designed to give the government a clear picture of costs, benefits, risks and delivery plans before a decision is made on which schemes get the funding and go-ahead for construction.
"The next steps are to meet with the Department For Transport following the announcement and also our term consultants Mouchel, in order to prepare for the start of the study on April 1 next year," added Mr Jones.
