New Shrewsbury link road will need impact testing
An environmental impact assessment will be needed as part of a planning application for a multi-million pound road.
Shropshire Council's technical specialist planning officer, Sue Collins, has confirmed the assessment will be required in the plans for Shrewsbury's Oxon Link Road.
The assessment is needed because of the potential size of the development, and because it can lead to other development in the area. The Oxon Link Road would cost around £12 million to build and is scheduled to be built by 2021.
A public exhibition earlier this year showed that the road will connect a roundabout on Holyhead Road to the A5 at the Churncote Island.
As a result, Welshpool Road will be shut at the west end and will no longer connect to the A5.
Although not connected to aspirations for a North West Relief Road, the Oxon Link Road is designed to connect to the larger project if it ever comes to fruition, and would be "future fit" for relief road status.
There will be a roundabout in the middle of the section of road, connecting it to Welshpool Road via Little Oxon Road.
Under the plans, Calcott Lane and Shepherd Lane, which currently connect Welshpool Road to Holyhead Road, would be cut off with no direct access to the new link road.
Traffic from housing estates which use the roads would consequently have to drive on to Welshpool Road, towards Shrewsbury town centre and then back along the link road to get to the A5. Traffic wanting to access Shrewsbury town centre from the west would come along the link road and then down Holyhead Road
