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

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.

During a visit to Shrewsbury on Wednesday Mr Harper said that while the protracted process of approval for the project may be frustrating for some residents of Shrewsbury, his party is committed to the scheme, which would complete the ring road around the town.

He said: "We have been very clear we want to deliver the project and we are going to deliver it.

"Clearly we have processes in place, the reason why – I know sometimes the public may get frustrated – you have an outline business case and a final business case is to go through and test the benefits from the project, the costs of it.

"Obviously we want to get the costs down to the lowest sensible level and you obviously want to make sure the benefits are as high as possible, and that work, I think taxpayers, it is their money, they would expect you to do that due diligence, both the Government and the council.

"But we have been clear we want to deliver this project so with a Conservative member of parliament and a Conservative government the North West Relief Road will be delivered."

The North West Relief Road has attracted significant opposition, with a number of Shropshire's town councils passing motions calling for the proposal to be dropped.

Opposition parties on Shropshire Council have also opposed the plan, along with a number of residents who have campaigned for the scheme to be scrapped.

But Mr Harper, who was meeting senior Shropshire Conservatives at Shrewsbury's Beaconsfield Club, said that his party believed transport projects can play a major part in boosting the economy.

He said: "My view, and this is the Government's view, is that transport is an economic enabler, it is part of growing the economy, so the point about the transport investment, whether it is in road improvements, whether it is in the quality of roads, whether it is in new roads, whether it is in buses - we put a lot of money into buses, the most popular form of public transport - or in rail, it is about getting the economy to work better, enabling people to get to work, you know, run their businesses more effectively, so it is actually about growing the economy and that is why we are putting that investment into those transport projects set out in our command paper last year."

Mr Kawczynski, who has been a long-time advocate of the relief road project, and is seeking his sixth election win in the constituency, said he sees the project as "vital" for the future of the town.

He said: "We have a huge amount of people coming to live in Shrewsbury from the Black Country, the population of Shrewsbury is expanding significantly and we have to think like the Victorians. This is a medieval town which is struggling to cope with the inflow of people and the additional traffic, and the North West Relief Road, the completion of the ring-road around Shrewsbury is critical not just for us but for future generations, who will continue to see a significant expansion of this town."