Shrewsbury-centric plans don't help rural areas and should be scrapped, says council

Ludlow Town Council has made the comments in a motion passed at its meeting this week, describing Shropshire Council's spending plans as too Shrewsbury-centric and of "little benefit to the most rural areas of the county".

The town council has agreed the comments after being invited to express its thoughts on Shropshire Council's proposed budget.

The spending plan includes money for the controversial £81m North West Relief Road (NWRR), which would effectively complete the ring-road around Shrewsbury, as well as a potential £27m for a Shirehall replacement.

Ludlow councillors have called for both proposals to be reconsidered, and for Shropshire Council to instead use the money to set up a 'community investment fund' for the county.

However Shropshire Council has said the money earmarked for the relief road would go to waste if the scheme is axed due to the specific funding arrangement.

Councillor Denise Thompson, who seconded the motion agreed by councillors in Ludlow, said it was galling to consider paying millions for a new road, when libraries, rural transport and welfare services need investment.

She said: "Shropshire Council has already lost a great deal of money on its previous large capital project – buying the three Shrewsbury shopping malls for £51m whose value has dropped by £33.5m.

"Do we really want to pay tens of millions of pounds for four miles of road in Shrewsbury that even Shrewsbury Town Council doesn’t want?

"At the same time, we are asked to accept the closure of libraries, the cutting of welfare services and an inadequate level of funding for rural buses – which, by the way, cost less than £2m per year to run – because our council tells us they need to cut costs.

"We must, surely, object to being asked to spend our residents’ money to support a totally irresponsible and harmful project?"

Shropshire Council has argued that the relief road will improve journey times, reduce congestion, and benefit the rest of the county.

The authority has also previously said investment and prosperity in Shrewsbury also serves to help boost other areas of Shropshire.

But, Ludlow Town Council pulled no punches with its motion calling on Shropshire Council to abandon both the NWRR and plans to spend on a new town-centre base, saying: "Under the proposed budget capital investment is overly concentrated in Shrewsbury-centred projects. This brings little benefit the most rural areas of the county."

It added: "Shropshire Council should urgently consider dis-investing from the environmentally destructive North West Relief Road which is currently predicted to cost the council more than £30 million from its own budget.

"The scheme is undemocratic in view of the huge weight of public and professional opposition, runs counter to all the COP26 proposals, is based on historic, now incorrect, assumptions about the growth in car numbers and will make us one of the most fossil fuel polluting counties in the UK.

"The council should urgently reconsider its plans to spend around £37 million creating a new civic centre in the town centre.

"Using the money freed up at this time of financial constraint, Shropshire Council should establish a community investment fund to support communities across the county, including by creating jobs that protect our county’s environment and its economy."

A spokesman for Shropshire Council said: "The capital funding allocated to the proposed Shrewsbury North West Relief under the DfTs Large Local Majors funding stream is only eligible for spend on delivery of the relief road scheme itself.

"Similarly, the match funding for the road generated from Shrewsbury based housing development is also ringfenced to the provision of essential local infrastructure to support the growth of Shrewsbury.

"If the council does not deliver the road using the DfT funding allocation, this would then be clawed back by them and lost."