What impact will Shrewsbury Northern Relief Road have on Welsh communities

A meeting organised by Llandrinio and Arddleen community council on Monday, November 30, saw Mark Barrow, Shropshire Council’s Director of Place, give a presentation on the work of the River Sever Partnership.

He also discussed Shrewsbury’s Northern Relief Road and what impact it could have on the area.

Fears have been raised that work on the road could potentially include a dam.

This could cause flooding issues upstream in the Criggion and Llandrinio, because the river Vyrnwy joins the Severn at nearby Melverley.

Mr Barrow said: “Local authorities and agencies were brought together as a group in September 2019.

“Broadly the approach was to look at the whole of the River Severn catchment area.

“We thought about infrastructure investment, water related measures, and what it means for housing and planning.”

He said that there is need to plan for the impacts of future climate change.

By 2050 it’s predicted that the River Severn could be 0.85 metres higher than it is today.

By 2100 it could that increase could have reached one metre higher than today.

Mr Barrow, said: “There are really significant potential impacts if we see much more frequent wet weather of the intensity we saw back in February.”

Turning to the relief road , Mr Barrow said: “As we’re bringing oroward a construction of a new relief road for Shrewsbury, we had to ask the question, what does that mean where it crosses the river?

“How does it interfere with the movement of water?”

Mr Barrow added that ideas have included building a viaduct or embankment which would also have a water management side to it.

Mr Barrow said: “We’ve done some modelling about putting a control mechanism on this point – what could that do?

“We don’t have any detailed schemes but we are looking at options, which is where we are.”

Before any firm plans are brought forward, more discussions and a formal consultation would need to take place.

Mr Barrow added: “The key bit is to start that work upstream at the source.

“We’d like to work with you as local communities, we’re working with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Environment Agency and Severn Trent on what water is retained in Clywedog and Vyrnwy, controlling their levels, and how the flow is released and what that means in terms of water levels down stream.

“The aim is to mitigate negative impacts on any community as far as possible.

“At the moment we don’t see any particular negative impacts of flooding on the Welsh side of the border.”

He said that he hoped to attend another meeting in the spring when he could have more details to share.

Powys County Councillor for Llandrinio, Cllr Lucy Roberts (Conservative) who chaired the meeting, said: “A lot of people who live in this area have direct experience of flooding for many years, and would like to have the opportunity to contribute with their knowledge and understanding of the area.”

It is hope that the River Severn Partnership will have a website up and running soon where people can ask questions and see any proposals.