'Shrewsbury doesn't want it': Town council strongly opposes 'bonkers' relief road

That is according to Shrewsbury Town Council leader Alan Mosley, who said that "the people of Shrewsbury do not want it" at a planning meeting.

The Labour leader of the council tabled a motion for councillors to object to the project, and call on Conservative-led Shropshire Council to divert capacity to producing a sustainable transport plan. It was almost unanimously backed.

More than 3,300 comments - mostly negative - have been officially uploaded onto the Shropshire Council planning portal about the road, which would stretch for four miles from the Churncote roundabout to Battlefield.

Councillors raised concerns over noise, pollution and damage to the environment.

Mayor Julian Dean, the Green Party councillor for Porthill, said there will likely be a reduction in commuting and more working online as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, so pushing ahead with the application based on a 40-year-old idea would be "completely bonkers".

"I think we need to take a strong position and oppose this road," he added.

Belle Vue Labour councillor Kate Halliday said she believed the visual impacts of the scheme had been understated, and Alex Wagner, the 20-year-old councillor for Bowbrook, brought attention to a comment on the application made by Severn Trent Water, who raised concerns about the town's drinking water supply.

Copthorne councillor Rob Wilson, who defeated former Shropshire Council leader Peter Nutting at the recent local elections, said that calling it a "relief road" was "doing some heavy lifting", and raised worries over the "huge increase" in traffic along Shelton Road and Berwick Road that would result from the project.

He and Councillor Wagner both swung previously strong Conservative seats to the Lib Dems on May 7, winning more than double the vote of their Tory rivals.

Councillor Mosley said that Shrewsbury's Big Town Plan, which includes a host of major projects including redeveloping the town centre and creating a riverside destination, does not rely on the relief road being created.

Concerns were also raised that only three Shrewsbury councillors sit on Shropshire Council's Northern Planning Committee, which will decide the outcome of the application, and that "vast pressure" has been put on the committee to vote in favour due to previous leader Mr Nutting stating that the relief road "will go ahead".

Two votes were conducted. The first asked all members present whether they supported or objected to the planning application. Twelve councillors objected, and one - Battlefield's Conservative councillor Becky Wall, supported it. Then, the town council's planning committee voted eight to one in favour of Councillor Mosley's motion.

Councillor Wall and Councillor Alex Phillips are the only Conservatives left on Shrewsbury Town Council after the party lost seats in the town and unitary council elections. The town council is now made up of seven Labour members, six Lib Dems, two Greens and two Tories.

Councillor Mosley said that he had "enormous postbags" of letters from people who objected to the road when he encouraged constituents to get in touch about it during the elections, and that the Conservatives' stance on it cost them a "significant disadvantage" at the polls.

He added: "We need to speak out loudly on this and ensure we are heard in all areas we are listened to."