Frustrated business gives council given 14 days to provide traffic models for North West Relief Road

Shrewsbury-based Morris Leisure says it has been requesting the noise and traffic models used by Shropshire Council for its application for the controversial road, for around 12 months.

Letters submitted as part of the planning process show that in June last year the authority said it would provide the information – but Morris Leisure says that to date it has not been received.

Shropshire Council has declined to comment and said the letter would be considered as part of the planning process for the road.

Morris Leisure runs a series of caravan holiday home and touring caravan sites, including Oxon Hall in Shrewsbury.

The Oxon site is at the centre of its concerns, with the North West Relief Road set to run close to its boundaries.

Edward Goddard, managing director of Morris Leisure, said: "Our caravan park at Oxon will be highly affected by the relief road if it is built.

"It runs very close – it bisects our driveway as it is at the moment.

"We have never objected to the principle of progress but we have objected to the fact it runs very close and will be very noisy."

Mr Goddard explained that they had not received the information requested to allow them to gauge the level of potential impact on the park.

He said: "We have asked for the traffic modelling data because the problem is the noise – what happens during construction, how do we run our business during construction, and how do we run the business when the road opens – do we still have a business?

"These are the questions we have asked on numerous occasions, which we have not yet got answers to."

He added: "We have been asking, what I do not think are unreasonable questions about the application, and for whatever reason there has been certainly a reluctance to furnish us with the information we are requesting."

Now the planning consultants, the Leith Group, have submitted a letter to the council outlining the concerns on behalf of Morris Leisure.

In it they have given the council 14 days to respond with the noise and traffic models, as well as an 'undertaking not to determine the planning application into the NWRR pending disclosure of the models and providing third parties with sufficient time to consider the ramifications'.

Solicitors representing Morris Leisure had last year warned the council they would consider a Judicial Review if the information was not forthcoming.

In his latest letter, sent on February 16, Chris Plenderleith, Chairman of The Leith Group, said: "We are requesting that the planning authority demonstrates that it is committed to enabling third parties to scrutinise this application.

"We have a legitimate expectation that we will receive for comment the data that has been requested repeatedly. Not least, because the council committed to providing it in their letter dated June 9, 2022."

The letter also raises concerns that the council is "being disingenuous and has no intention of letting third parties scrutinise the traffic and noise models because they are simply not fit for purpose".

It adds: "It is recognised that given that the council is promoting this scheme, and given the tribal nature of the political debate, it is even more important that Planning Authority acts with impartiality and integrity because the consequences of not doing so undermines the government institutions we all depend on."

Shropshire Council has declined to comment and said the response would be considered as part of the application.