North West Relief Road query rejected at council committee meeting on legal advice
A query on data backing Shropshire Council's North West Relief Road plans has been pushed onto the council's cabinet - on legal advice.
The authority's transformation and improvement overview and scrutiny committee met this morning (Tuesday, February 11).
The committee had received a question from a member of the public, anti-relief road campaigner Mike Streetly, over information about the impact of the road, which the council has shared with organisations including the local NHS and the Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.
But the committee's chair, Councillor Claire Wild, said the question would not be discussed after legal advice.
She said it would instead be directed to the council's cabinet to answer - although her response said the committee had been provided with an answer.
She said: "We have one question from Mike Streetly from Better Shrewsbury Transport, however the question was directed at the portfolio holder and as such I am not accepting the question. I am going to pass the question over to cabinet because that is the appropriate place to ask the question."
Committee member Councillor Roger Evans queried the move, and asked if a response had been received.
He said: "Chairman, I have to say constitutionally it is asked here, if the portfolio holder is not here it should be asked, and has not an answer been obtained from the portfolio holder?"
Councillor Wild responded by saying that the decision had been made, and the committee would not hear the response.
She said: "As chair it is my call. I have had legal advice and the advice is quite clear, it is a question for the portfolio holder and I am not going to take it. I am not reading out the question, I am not reading out the answer, so that is it."
Mr Streetly's query asked if information from the as-yet-unpublished business case for the road could be shared with the public.
He said: "Councillor Dan Morris said that various organisations had been shown 'excerpts' of the as-yet unpublished full business case for the NWRR.
"As this clearly shows that these excerpts are not confidential, could Councillor Morris please share them with all elected councillors and the public please?"
Shropshire Council's cabinet meets tomorrow (Wednesday, February 11).
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