Anti-relief road campaigners set up in Shrewsbury town centre in Cop26 action day
Campaigners have taken to Pride Hill to protest against the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road project.
Better Shrewsbury Transport, a group fighting for the cancellation of the £81 million project, believe building the road would fly in the face of the essential action needed to prevent climate breakdown.
The group took part in a global day of action on Saturday, a day when many other protests were happening in response to the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow.
Frank Oldaker, from Better Shrewsbury Transport, said: “The ongoing COP26 in Glasgow heard last week a lot of dire warnings about the consequences of continuing to add to greenhouse gas emissions. These came from government leaders from around the world, including our own, and many other prominent figures.
"Apart from the major initiatives that can only come from governments it is clear that every organisation, company and individual has to look for the actions they can take. This is already happening and one very recent example is of a £264,000 grant being used by eight firms and organisations in Shropshire to reduce their carbon footprints. Ian Nellins, the Shropshire councillor and cabinet member for climate change, welcomed the initiative and said 'we all recognise the need to drive down our carbon footprints'.
"We quite agree such efforts are important but this one will save only 84 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year whereas the construction of the road would result in 48,000 tonnes of new CO2 emissions. Such an addition is absolutely unacceptable.
"There are also many other negative aspects of building the road which add to the argument for it to be cancelled and it is not necessary for Shrewsbury’s future. We are calling for the council to accept the reality of the situation and cancel the road now.”
Council bosses believe the road would reduce pollution in the town centre and provide benefits for Shrewsbury and neighbouring towns. But more than 4,500 comments have been made on the planning application, mostly negative. The road would stretch for four miles from Churncote roundabout to Battlefield.
