Shropshire Council pushes North West Relief Road 'benefits' in bid to take scheme to planning
Potential benefits of Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road have been highlighted by Shropshire Council, as it prepares for its latest attempt to take the project to a planning committee.
The authority has published two documents outlining what it says are the benefits of the plan, which has come under sustained criticism from environmental campaigners.
The bid to get the scheme to a planning committee has dragged on for nearly two years – with the latest developments seeing the council drop it from a special committee meeting planned for July, due to ongoing and unresolved concerns from the Environment Agency.
No date has been confirmed for the plan to be considered by councillors, but the authority's consultants WSP previously said they were working "to a revised planning committee date of September 12".
In its submission as part of the application the council says the road "plays a crucial role in enabling development in the town".
The authority says that it will be a key part of preventing traffic from clogging up the centre of Shrewsbury for the future – and as part of proposals to redevelop the Riverside area, which it says could bring another 750,000 people to the town every year.
