'What do you know that they don't?' - Senior councillor hits back at relief road critics 'holding Shrewsbury back'
A councillor has issued an impassioned defence of Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road (NWRR) - saying he is baffled at Labour and Liberal opposition to the scheme.
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Councillor Dan Morris, the Council's Conservative Cabinet member for Burnell, was speaking after the leader of the authority's Labour group, Councillor Rosemary Dartnall, called for all spending on the project to be halted.
Responding during the debate Councillor Morris said the opposition to a "vital" piece of infrastructure was "baffling".
He queried what the opponents know that a number of large supportive organisations do not.
He said: "I have to say the Labour and Liberal parties' determination to oppose the North West Relief Road at every stage and every twist and turn of the process is quite baffling.
"What is it that Councillor Dartnall and the Labour group, and the Liberal group, know that Arriva, the West Midlands Combined Authority, Midlands Connect, Shrewsbury BID, Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, what is it that they know that these organisations don't know and say they want the road?
"It is absolutely baffling.
"The population of this county is due to grow to over 400,000, and yet the Labour group, in a privileged position because you have the Shrewsbury MP now, you refuse to help us support build this vital bit of infrastructure. It is baffling at the very least."
Earlier Councillor Dartnall had referenced a critical audit report of the project, and the recent unexpected increase in the carbon cost of the scheme.
