MP encouraged about Shrewsbury north-west link road progress after meeting minister

MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham Daniel Kawczynski said the meeting with Andrew Jones, under secretary of state from the department of transport, held yesterday in the town had been beneficial to the proposal and that Mr Jones had recognised the importance of the need for a bypass to the north of the town.

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He said: "We wanted to convince the minister of the priority of this road from the perspective of growth and employment.

"I see the lack of this road as one of the biggest threats to Shrewsbury's economic development. There has been a massive increase in traffic in Shrewsbury over the last 10 years.

"People are telling me that it takes them over an hour to cross Shrewsbury. This situation will only become worse as we continue to build the number of houses that we are experiencing at present.

"Our next step is to try and get a meeting with all seven of the region's MPs with the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership which covers all of Shropshire and Herefordshire in September.

"This will give us the opportunity to agree on key priorities that will be put forward for Government funding.

"We know the benefits that this road will bring to Shrewsbury, and Owen Paterson, MP for north Shropshire, can also see the knock-on benefits that this will bring to his constituents."

Mr Kawczynski now hopes to arrange a meeting with the Chancellor George Osborne to discuss the matter ahead of the autumn statement.

"The more united we are, the better our chances of securing funding," he said.

"This is the first time we have had the council, business people and MPs working in unison about this. The LEP are behind this and I am confident of it.

"Once they have looked at the plan, which has progressed a long way, it will hopefully be put forward to the Government for funding."

He added that there were a number of projects in the Marches region which were looking for Government funding through the LEP including business parks, roads and infrastructure.

"The LEP will take four or five proposals to the Government for funding and then we will see which are successful and which are not," he added.

If funding is secured the road would complete the town's strategic road network by providing the fourth and final arc of the Shrewsbury bypass and provide the missing river crossing between the western and northern parts of the town. Proponents say it would significantly reduce traffic unnecessarily crossing through the town centre, and reducing congestion on its western and northern approaches.

The overall cost of the road would be in the region of £100 million.