Shropshire Star

Plea to start work on two Shrewsbury roundabouts

Calls have been made to increase capacity at two Shrewsbury roundabouts after government funding was signed off for a major relief road.

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Shropshire Council

Councillor Dean Carroll, member for Battlefield, said he is now calling for work to be carried out at the Sundorne and Battlefield islands on the A49 to ensure congestion isn’t made worse by the North West Relief Road.

Shropshire Council officially accepted the government’s offer of £54.4m funding at full council on Thursday.

But now Councillor Carroll has called on work to be carried out alongside the project to ensure congestion isn’t displaced from the town centre to north east Shrewsbury by the work.

He said: “I raised need to increase capacity at Sundorne and Battlefield Islands on A49.

“Now North West Relief Road funding is agreed we need to make sure current congestion locally isn’t made worse and congestion isn’t displaced from town centre to north east Shrewsbury.”

The full council agreed to accept the government funding and work on the road could begin as early as spring 2022 – with it being open potentially by spring 2023.

Councillor Peter Nutting said he was delighted the funding had been secured and paid tribute to Councillor Steve Davenport, portfolio holder for transport, who he said had worked hard to complete the deal.

He sad: “There are so many positives to this scheme, from easing congestion to helping air quality in the town centre.

“There are also so many knock on effects as it will also help reduce the amount of traffic and especially lorries that are currently going through places like Ruyton-XI-Towns and Baschurch. I want to hail Councillor Davenport for his work on this project as he has gone above and beyond and he has really got this over the line.”

But not all members greeted the news with open arms.

Councillor Roger Evans, leader of the Lib Dem group, said he was worried the council was going to get itself into trouble financially.

He said the government funding was capped at £54.4m and if the scheme went over it would see the council footing the bill. It is already investing £17m in the project.

Councillor Hannah Fraser added that she was “utterly unconvinced” about the scheme’s supposed benefits.