A5 upgrade would be pointless
Shropshire Council are calling for the section of the A5 between Telford and Preston Boats, just outside Shrewsbury, to be upgraded to motorway from the dual carriageway.
The reason given is that business people looking to set up in Shrewsbury will be put off because there isn’t a motorway to the town. The dual carriageway is of course adequate but they want an “M” in the road designation.
At a time when the council claims to have the knowledge to set up and run “businesses” itself it is extraordinary that it thinks that a company that is considering Shrewsbury would not do a very detailed assessment of the place and immediately see that communications are good.
However, they would also look at lots of other aspects. It is then that doubts might arise.
Having seen a town centre frequently choked with traffic they would find that there are no plans to really solve the issue. They will realise that the proposed road around the north west of the town will not solve the problem and will also do massive environmental damage.
They would certainly also consider housing for their employees and look at the new developments that are in hand or proposed. It would be disconcerting for them that there is concern at a high level about the quality of these developments. But when they examined the Western Urban Extension and the conflict between the North West Road and the needs of the people one can only imagine that their concern will turn to disbelief. Any planning application for a road that attracts so many objections, as happened here, proves it is a disastrous proposal. These sorts of issues are more likely to influence a firm’s decision than whether they arrive on the A5 or the A5M.
It is strange that in putting forward the idea to upgrade the A5 the council doesn’t seem to have thought about the cost – £8 million to £10m per mile is conservative. But then the council is in a headlong rush to build the North West Road at an estimated cost of £74m so appears to have a blind spot when it comes to wasting money on ineffective road schemes. This is in stark contrast to the wide-ranging cuts in spending on many other services.
Frank Oldaker, Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth
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