Huge carbon increase confirmed for Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road

The major road scheme, which was approved by Shropshire Council in October last year, is yet to start as the council still looks to secure millions of pounds in extra funding - and formally agrees conditions required as part of planning permission.

But as part of the approval signed off last year the council was required to set out the environmental impact of the road, and the carbon created by the project.

The estimate provided with the 2021 planning statement for the application was for 26,711 tonnes of carbon from the project to be offset.

But, a new estimate, provided in a report from the consultants WSP, details a significant increase to 55,904 tonnes of carbon.

The WSP report says that the changes arise from changes in the way the Department for Transport (DfT ) now calculate carbon impact - adding that the authority has only had to provide the updated figure because it needs to be included in its submission of a 'business case' for the road to the government.

The business case is the process by which the council hopes to secure extra funding to allow the project to go ahead.

But the revelation has been met with strong criticism from anti-relief road campaigners.

WSP's report states: "The revised calculation methodology has arisen from new DfT business case guidance and evolving best-practice from that widely accepted at the time of planning consideration and assessment.