Shrewsbury’s North West Relief Road now facing year-long delay
The completion of Shrewsbury’s North West Relief Road could be held up for a year due to delays over funding confirmation, Shropshire Council has said.
In a report to go before members of the authority’s place overview committee this week, officer Matt Johnson, the council’s strategic transport and contracts manager, said: “It is, given the current uncertainty from the Department for Transport as to the date of any announcement, unlikely that the council will agree to continue to fund further preparatory works.
“If this is the case, the outline business case (OBC) as submitted will require change in terms of programme and financial profiling.
“Ultimately, given the seasonal nature of much of the preparatory works required this could lead to a one year delay in completion.”
The council is asking the government for £54 million for the scheme from the Transports Local Majors Fund and will also make a contribution of almost £17 million.
Council leaders submitted the OBC in December and had expected an announcement on whether the bid had been successful in the Government’s spring statement.
But when none was forthcoming council leader Peter Nutting wrote to the minister for transport Chris Grayling voicing the council’s frustrations.
In his report, which will go before the committee on Wednesday, Mr Johnson adds: “The Shrewsbury North West Relief Road proposal has been in the public domain for many years.
“There have been numerous studies and evaluation exercises around the proposal throughout its lifetime, although none of these to date have proceeded to a full bid for construction costs.
“At the start of 2016 there was therefore a wealth of study and evaluation data collated and held by the council, although given the protracted period over which this had been gathered, its relevance to the towns’ current position was in question.”
A comprehensive public and stakeholder consultation was undertaken by the council in the preparation of the OBC and preparatory works were also carried out.
The council believes the construction of the road, which will run from Shelton to Battlefield and link up with the yet-to-be-built Oxon link road, will reduce congestion, improve connectivity, and reduce delays.
The authority also believes it will enhance the Oxon link road and Shrewsbury Integrated Transport Plan schemes.
