Work 'paused' on Shrewsbury North West Relief Road as bills soar to £215m - Shropshire Council says: 'We really have no choice'
Shropshire Council has paused work on the proposed North West Relief Road after finding the projected cost has more than doubled in eight years.
All work on the proposed Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR) has been paused following a meeting with one of the scheme’s main funding bodies.
Shropshire Council’s Leader Heather Kidd and Deputy Leader Alex Wagner met with officers from the Department for Transport (DfT) earlier this week to discuss the scheme, seek clarity about funding and explore options with regard to its future.
The cost of constructing the road was originally estimated at £87.2m, with £54.4m of funding coming from the DfT, along with £4.2m from the former Marches Local Partnership (LEP) funding, £8.6m from S106 developer contributions.
Shropshire Council was set to contribute £19.8m for the scheme, along with £200,000 for the Oxon Link Road.
But due to planning delays, significant increases in global construction costs, and concerns with the scheme’s governance arrangements, cited as a ‘significant weakness’ by external auditors, the forecast costs of the scheme have increased substantially since the original outline business case - leaving a significant funding gap to complete the scheme.
Following an extensive procurement exercise, Shropshire Council states the scheme’s total cost is now £215m, eight years on.
During the meeting officers from the DfT confirmed that they would not award any more money than had been originally allocated to the project.
Furthermore, the Local Transport Fund of £136.4m, originally mooted by the previous administration to fund the scheme, has been replaced with a Local Transport Grant totalling only £48m.
The DfT also confirmed that the council would need to cancel work on the road before a formal discussion could proceed with Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood MP, the Department for Transport and other parts of central government about the £39m it has already spent on the scheme.
Councillor Kidd said: “Through our conversations with the Department for Transport, it was made very clear that no more funding would be allocated to the scheme. This makes it simply unaffordable.
“As you can imagine, there are many implications for cancelling the road however we really have no choice.
“If we were to keep spending money by progressing the scheme, the funding gap would be huge – over £176 million that we really don’t have. As well as this, there are no guarantees that this cost wouldn’t increase further as time goes on.
“Borrowing that level of money is not a serious option given our financial position and the implications it would have for the rest of our budget and services.
“It’s because of this that we’ve made the decision to pause work on the scheme and machinery is now being taken off site.
“We now need to meet with the Minister to discuss the money the Council has already spent on the scheme and find an agreeable way forward.”
The meeting with the Minster is currently being planned.
While the local authority intend to cancel the scheme due to its unaffordability, a final decision would need to be considered through a meeting of cabinet and full council.
