Oswestry road improvements funding still to be confirmed

Earlier this year the government announced it was giving a £9.3 million grant to the Oswestry area as part of a £866m national investment in infrastructure projects to enable more housing to be built.

It was expected that the money would improve two roundabouts on the bypass that carries the A5 and A483, build a new roundabout on the Shrewsbury road and a footbridge from a new housing development over to land designated as an employment park.

Now it has been revealed that the money was subject to due diligence and final proposals and will now be concentrated on just one roundabout, Mile End.

Shropshire Council cabinet member responsible for economic growth, Steve Charmley, said that the final design for the Mile End roundabout was currently being costed up.

“Shropshire Council submitted a bid to the Government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund earlier this year to help fund infrastructure improvements in Oswestry," said Councillor Charmley.

“The award of up to £9.3m was subject to due diligence and the preparation of final proposals which will determine the final level of grant awarded.

“The funding – from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – will help make housing developments more viable by improving the existing capacity of the road network on the A5 at Mile End.

“Following discussions with Homes England and Highways England, the focus is now on improvements to Mile End roundabout. The final design for Mile End is currently being costed up as part of the ongoing survey and modelling work, and will be subject to Highways England approval.

“More detailed work has been undertaken with Homes England as part of the due diligence process. And as part of our discussions with Homes England, the improvements that would be directly attributed to housing units has been reviewed from 1538 to 1100.

“Now that the details of costs and the numbers of housing units being attributed to the scheme is becoming clearer, the final award will be relative to this. Once the due diligence testing being undertaken by Homes England’s consultants has been completed we’ll be able to confirm the final amount of money we have secured.”