Shrewsbury relief road recommended for approval by planners ahead of final decision next week

Earlier this month Transport Secretary Mark Harper confirmed that the Government will fund the full cost of the road following the Prime Minister's announcement that funding from the cancelled HS2 link will be redistributed to support local transport projects.

The controversial scheme goes to the Northern Planning Committee of the council on Tuesday, October 31.

In her report Tracy Darke, the council's assistant director of economy and place, says the relief road is a significant and important piece of infrastructure for both Shrewsbury and the wider county as a whole.

"The NWRR will complete the outer ring road around the county town and provide better connectivity between outlying market towns and settlements, by reducing journey times between them," she says.

"It will also re-route through traffic away from the town centre allowing for improvements to the environment to make it a more attractive place to live and work and spend time."

The hugely controversial scheme, if given the go ahead, will see the construction of 6.9 kilometres of a single-carriageway road along with a footway/cycleway. Three bridges will be built over the carriageway. There will be a 670-metre-long viaduct over the River Severn, a bridge over the railway and two flood storage areas.

Two new roundabout junctions will be built along with improvements to two existing roundabouts and there will be associated traffic-calming measures, landscaping and drainage schemes

The North West Relief Road will run from the Churncote Roundabout in the east to Ellesmere Road roundabout in the west.

Ms Darke says the proposals are an amalgamation of the Oxon Link Road and the North West Relief Road into a single planning application.

"The proposed design of the NWRR remains largely the same as the original submission in February 2021," she writes.

"The design changes are mainly limited to the area between Holyhead Road and east of the Viaduct. The changes include the removal of the climbing lane from the viaduct and the inclusion of an extended earthwork embankment into the floodplain, enabling a shorter viaduct.

"The area that would store water in the event that the River Severn floods has been increased due to the additional bridge structures within the floodplain."

The delivery of the North West Relief Road has long been an aspiration of Shropshire Council but it has led to massive protests both within Shrewsbury and further afield in the county.

The report to councillors says air quality is a significant concern in relation to the NWRR for many people.

"The NWRR is likely to re-route much of the existing town centre through traffic around the built-up area of Shrewsbury and reduce congestion on the existing road network thus improving air quality in some locations such as the town centre and inner urban areas," it says.

"Slow moving traffic tends to contribute negatively to poor air quality and the NWRR will assist in tackling air quality issues around the town by reducing the need for through traffic to travel through the town centre on the existing road network.

"There will inevitably be some increase in pollutants along the route of the road itself, however this will be in less populated localities and the increases will be below acceptable thresholds."

The construction work is currently targeted to commence in spring 2024 and continue until the road's opening in autumn/winter 2025. A construction compound will be set up on the Oxon Park and Ride site.