M6 toll road plans put on hold

Plans for a £70 million extension of the M6 Toll Road to link with Shropshire's M54 have been put on hold, a Government minister has revealed.

The project has been put on ice as part of a spending freeze imposed by the Coalition Government while it tries to tackle the UK's record deficit.

But Telford MP David Wright today accused the Government of having little interest in Telford and the link road, which would make it quicker for drivers to get into the county from the West Midlands.

Mr Wright called on Michael Penning, the minister for roads and motoring, to speed up the construction of the multi-million pound bid to link the M54 with the toll road.

But Mr Penning said all Government road schemes were now on hold and under review to make sure they were "value for money".

He said he could not comment on the link road project until the spending review had been completed later this year.

Mr Wright said: "The Minister's response did not even address the question of what plans there were in place and how far things had moved since the announcement a link road was to be built."