MPs push Shrewsbury North West Relief Road case at Westminster

Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski was joined by North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, on his first day back at work after breaking his back on horse ride. They held a meeting with transport minister Jesse Norman to push the case for £54 million in Government funding for the proposed Shrewsbury road.

Shropshire councillors Steve Davenport and Dan Morris were also at the meeting, as Shropshire Council will contribute almost £17 million and any overspend towards the road which would link the planned Oxon Link Road with Battlefield.

Mr Kawczynski listed the reasons why the scheme is his "number one priority".

He said: "I was very very grateful for Owen Paterson's support as it was his first day back after his accident.

"Owen and I have agreed that this is the top road construction scheme for Shropshire for this year and we both collectively lobbied the minister with two councillors from Shropshire Council about the need for funding to be secured.

"We had very productive discussions. I explained to the minister first of all that I believe my constituents are overwhelmingly in favour of this road.

"Secondly, it now takes an hour to get across Shrewsbury at peak times.

"Thirdly, we now have the largest number of listed buildings of any town in England, therefore tourism is our number one income generator.

"The huge build-up of traffic is starting to affect the air quality and the fabric of some of these buildings.

"We talked about Bomere Heath as I have walked along the roads which have no pavements and have become rat runs and people face danger walking along them."

Mr Kawczynski said that Mr Norman could not say too much about the bid.

"The minister has a lot of proposals on his desk but we wanted to do everything possible in advance of a decision being taken this summer to push Shrewsbury's case," he said.

"He can't say too much because the bid is currently going through a competitive process against various others around the country.

"He did us the courtesy of listening to it all.

"Owen and I did our best to push Shrewsbury's case and we will hopefully see in the summer which schemes are earmarked for the first lot of money.

"This is my number one priority and I'm committed to getting the money for this scheme."

Shropshire Council submitted the business case to the Government in December, which outlines the authority’s position on the need for the road, the council hoped to receive a response by April 1, but no definitive answer has been given.

It was previously said that the success of the programme had been based on it being ‘in delivery’ from April 1.