Oxon Link Road 'threat to Shrewsbury caravan park'
A caravan park in Shrewsbury may have to close if plans for a multi-million pound link road go ahead in their current form, it has been claimed.
Morris Leisure, which runs Oxon Touring Park in Welshpool Road, has said the building of the Oxon Link Road would adversely affect the business.
The company has commissioned a highways report from consulting civil engineers A.F. Macdonld & Partners, which raises a number of issues regarding traffic and noise.
The report suggests if the road is implemented as currently designed, the caravan park could not function and would likely have to close.
The road is planned as a two-lane carriageway around one mile in length, connecting the Churncote roundabout where the A5 meets Welshpool Road to the Holyhead Road at Oxon.
It will cost in the region of £12 million to construct and is anticipated to be complete by 2021 if it gains planning approval.
'Deficiencies'
Morris Leisure managing director Edward Goddard said that while the business has never objected in principle to the road, it wants changes to be made to allow the caravan park to continue to operate.
"We believe there are many deficiencies in the present planning application," he said.
"We have asked the developer for a noise attenuation between the road and ourselves, good and uninterrupted access to the park and a means to get our customers across the road safely to use the local amenities.
"If my customers on foot cannot get into the park safely, ultimately I will have no choice but to shut it."
But so far, the requests have not been met, Mr Goddard said.
He said there is also a discrepancy between the traffic and highways data submitted by the developer and its own findings.
"We feel that there will be more traffic than they are predicting," he added. "So the big issue for us will be noise. At the moment we are in a relatively quiet spot. If it goes ahead, there will be a busy road right by us all of a sudden.
"It is important to get the correct traffic data because the road needs to be designed to the right amount of traffic."
The report on behalf of Morris Leisure recommends refusing or deferring the application until the council undertakes additional surveys.
"It is believed that a proper analysis would result in the need for redesign," it said. "The best course of action would then be either withdrawal of the application or a refusal."
