HS2: Parish council to press for details of road safety funding

Shropshire Council has been awarded an added £114,500 for a Road Safety Fund over and above the money already allocated to mitigate the arrival of the high speed railway close to Woore in the northeast of the county.

Woore Parish Council says it will be pressing the unitary authority on how the money will be spent.

The figure is revealed in a document from Transport Minister Andrew Stephenson MP, the Government response to consultation on HS2 from the West Midlands to Crewe.

The document acknowledges that many responding to the consultation commented on the potential negative impact of HS2 construction traffic through the parish of Woore and the need to minimise this impact.

The A51 and A525 corridors, which run through the parish of Woore, are proposed to form part of the construction traffic route network associated with the Madeley tunnel, the River Lea viaduct and Madeley cutting satellite compounds.

Government officials in the document say HS2 Ltd made changes to the scheme during the passage of the Bill that substantially reduces the expected volume of construction traffic routed through Woore, with a reduction in the peak traffic flows of over 50 per cent on the A51 corridor to the south of the junction with the A525 Newcastle Road.

Funding of £540,000 has been made available to Shropshire and there are plans for the installation of a new zebra crossing in Woore village, upgrade an existing controlled crossing, and enhanced pedestrian crossing points on the A51, put in pavements in The Square and provide funding for a school crossing patrol officer.

In February a further assurance was given to the parish council to provide a range of supplementary traffic calming and road safety measures with discussions ongoing.

Chairman of Woore Parish Council, Mr Mike Cowey, said: "The parish council will be seeking from Shropshire Council how this fund will be spent in Woore Parish for the benefit of the residents."

During the consultation there were a number of calls to reopen all or part of the Stoke to Market Drayton Railway.

However this seems unlikely to be taken up.

"The Stoke to Market Drayton Railway, the Silverdale Line, was closed to passenger traffic in 1964 and remains out of use. As the railway has been out of use many years, much of its component parts are heavily dilapidated, and to bring the railway back into use would require extensive civil engineering works in order to replace multiple structures, embankments, cuttings, drainage and track."

The report on the consultation also talks about the impact of the railway on the environment and the removal of woodland.

"HS2 Ltd has committed an additional £2m to extend the Woodland Fund, " the report says.

"This funding will help local landowners create native broadleaved woodlands and/or restore plantations on ancient woodland sites. It is estimated this could deliver approximately 170 hectacres of new woodland planting to further compensate the loss of ancient woodland."