Shropshire Star

Transport Minister makes North West Relief Road pledge – if the Conservatives win the election

The Transport Minister has promised Shrewsbury's voters that the North West Relief Road "will be delivered" if his party wins next month's General Election.

Plus
Published

Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565

Conservative Secretary of State for Transport, Mark Harper, reiterated his commitment to the long-running project on a campaign trail visit to Shrewsbury, where he was supporting his party colleague Daniel Kawczynski's bid for re-election as MP for Shrewsbury.

It comes as the entire North West Relief Road scheme sits at a potentially precarious stage.

It has been approved by Shropshire Council, which is behind the scheme, but the authority still needs to finalise conditions to satisfy concerns raised by the Environment Agency and Severn Trent over potential risks to Shrewsbury's drinking water.

The council cannot submit the 'full business case' request for the project to the Government – the process which decides whether the Government hands over the money to build the road – until those conditions are satisfied.

It means that the project could potentially be cancelled if there is a change of government, Shrewsbury's Labour Party having previously agreed its opposition to the plan.