Residents 'waiting desperately' for Shrewsbury relief road, says transport boss

Councillor Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council's portfolio holder for physical infrastructure, was defending the project as councillors criticised a £2.5m overspend on the road and said the authority faced "a day of reckoning" over the project.

During a meeting in which the authority's financial outturn was discussed, Councillor Julia Buckley, Bridgnorth West and Tesley's Labour representative, said the Conservative led authority was spending money on a road "nobody wants".

"I do hope that residents are going to be discerning enough to read through this report and see exactly what this administration has chosen to spend its money on," she said.

"We've managed to overspend by £2.5 million on the North West Relief Road - the four miles of road that nobody wants. We've managed to underspend by £1.3 million on school 20mph zones and local transport plans.

"They have prioritised a road nobody wants and they have chosen not to help children walk safely to their schools across this county."

Duncan Kerr, Oswestry South's Green councillor, added that the council faces "a day of reckoning" over the road, and that the overall financial situation meant the authority would struggle to "run the show" without the road being built, let alone with it.

Councillor Carroll described Councillor Buckley's suggestion that the authority was prioritising the road project over the safety of children as "callous and untrue", and that more school streets should be brought in during the next financial year.

"Councillor Buckley, you do not speak for my residents who do want the North West Relief Road," he said.

"You do not speak for many residents in and around Shrewsbury and in towns and villages north of Shrewsbury, who are waiting desperately for the road to relieve the misery and pressure that is felt by them from traffic.

"In terms of 'are we prioritising the relief road over school streets', what an absolutely callous thing to say, which is completely and fundamentally untrue."

He added that the money for the North West Relief Road would not be available for use on other county projects and would have to be returned to government.

The £81 million road, which would run from Churncote to Battlefield and received more than 4,500 objections when the planning application was submitted, was subject of more backlash this week.

Protestors carrying placards and banging drums were outside Shrewsbury Town FC earlier in the week, where a fortnight-long examination of the local plan for housing developments is taking place. The campaigners told of their worries over spiralling costs of the project and the damage to the environment it could cause.