Leader aiming for decision on North West Relief Road before summer holidays
The controversial North West Relief Road is expected to be considered by a planning committee before the summer holidays, according to Shropshire Council's leader.
The proposal, which would effectively complete a ring road around Shrewsbury, has been mired in delays and was originally planned to go before a committee in late 2021.
The hold-up has largely centred on concerns from the Environment Agency and Severn Trent Water over the project.
The plans have also been the subject of a record number of objections, and vocal criticism from campaigners who say the project will be hugely damaging for the environment.
More than 4,500 objections have been submitted to the council over the plans, while Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Bridgnorth and Oswestry's town councils have all called for the proposal to be scrapped.
But, Councillor Lezley Picton, the Conservative leader of Shropshire Council, said the authority is still aiming for the application to be considered by the planning committee "before the summer holidays".
The move would be a significant milestone in the project, although there would still be number of other issues to resolve, even if the committee approves the plans.
The council will then be required to submit a formal business case to the Government for the project, while there is a possibility that the scheme could be called in for assessment by a Government-appointed planning inspector due to the level of opposition.
There are likely to be further issues over the costs of the project, with the council almost certainly needing extra funds to complete the road.
The authority has £81m for the scheme – £54.4m from the Government, £28.5m from Shropshire Council, and £4.2m from the Marches LEP – but the costings date back to 2018, and are likely to be higher than estimated five years ago.
In October last year Shrewsbury & Atcham's Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, wrote to the Department of Transport asking for extra funding to cover the expected overspend – requesting £27.25m, which he said would cover 75 per cent of the increase in costs.
At that stage the Government responded by saying that no decision would be taken on extra funding until the full business case for the project had been received – which can only be completed after the project has gained planning permission.
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