'The worst of both worlds': North West Relief Road row continues as Shropshire parties clash on cancellation call
Shropshire Council's political groups have clashed over the impending cancellation of the controversial North West Relief Road.
It was confirmed this week that the authority's Liberal Democrat administration intends to officially cancel the North West Relief Road (NWRR).
The matter will go before full council tomorrow for a vote, and comes after months of the costly scheme being left in limbo.
While the relief road is set to be scrapped, the administration has said the Oxon Link Road (OLR) will survive for a future decision.
The OLR was initially a separate project, but was added to the North West Relief Road scheme as the project was developed.
In its statement explaining the move the council said the scheme was now unaffordable and would require borrowing from the public works loans board, which would see Shropshire residents having to pay back more than £4m a year.
The NWRR scheme, which was a flagship policy of the council's previous Conservative administrations, now looks truly dead in the water, with £32m spent on the project which will never see the light of day.
The decision has been met with differing views from across the council chamber.
The authority's opposition Reform Group has expressed "deep concern" at the move, saying the decision leaves the public with "the worst of both worlds", with no relief road and no alternative to alleviate traffic issues in the town.
