Relief road near Shrewsbury 'would be Godsend to village'

Bomere Heath Parish Council told Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski that a north west relief road is desperately needed to prevent traffic using country roads as a rat run.

And Mr Kawczynski has pledged to keep lobbying the Government to help fund the road, which is expected to cost at least £100 million.

The MP believes the road will help Shrewsbury cope with the new homes that are being built in the town by 2026 and will be a "Godsend" to surrounding villages and communities.

Pam Furber, chairman of Bomere Heath Parish Council, said: "There is real support for this because we are inundated with heavy traffic.

"It is not traffic coming through the village, it misses the village.

"But it is some of the country roads and smaller villages where lorries use their sat navs to try and find their way through without having to go all a way around the bypass.

"I know a large environmental lobby is against it but equally our environment suffers as well.

"All the roads are swamped by heavy traffic and people use them as rat runs."

Mrs Furber also believes the relief road might help prevent traffic accidents in the area.

"We had a Huffley Lane fatality about five years ago and had two accidents on the same day in December I think," she said.

"There is a stretch of hedge which is more or less destroyed by vehicles going through it.

"I think the relief road might help prevent accidents."

Mrs Furber added: "We were very much pursuing the relief road at one time before it got taken off the board. We were then very surprised when it was put back on.

"We thought it was dead and buried but if it is being resurrected we will support it."

Mr Kawczynski said he is due to spend a morning with the parish council in rush hour to see how bad the traffic problem is. "If I am re-elected I believe the north west relief road will have to take precedence," he said.

"It is still in the pipeline and it is controversial, but I consider it a huge importance to cope with the additional housing that Shrewsbury is facing.

"It would not only help alleviate some of traffic in the town, it will be a godsend for villages and communities.

"I will keep pressing and lobbying the government to help fund it."

The road would complete the town's strategic road network by providing the fourth and final arc of the Shrewsbury Bypass.