Better Shrewsbury Transport (BeST) is calling on Shropshire Council to withdraw its planning application for the proposed Shrewsbury North West Road scheme after a landmark vote against the project at Shrewsbury Town Council last night.
Councillors voted to support a motion from Labour group leader Councillor Alan Mosley calling for the road to be rejected in favour of focussing on a sustainable transport plan for the town. There were well informed speeches from a number of councillors and the motion was almost unanimously backed with only one Conservative councillor – Becky Wall for Battlefield – voting to support the road.
Mike Streetly, a spokesperson for BeST said: “This is a truly shocking result and a wake-up call for Shropshire Council. It is extraordinary that a road that is explicitly supposed to offer Shrewsbury “relief” has been rejected by the town council on the grounds that it offers no relief at all.
“After the recent election results and with over 3,000 objections on the council’s planning portal it is clear that people in the town don’t think the road is fit for purpose. It is not necessary and, as Councillor Mosley made clear, the Big Town Plan is not reliant on it.
“The big question now is whether or not Shropshire Council is willing to pause and reflect on what this momentous vote means, or whether they will ride roughshod over Shrewsbury’s wishes. We have already seen Oswestry Town Council and several parishes around the county vote against the road, while both the Shropshire Climate Action Partnership and the South Shropshire Climate Action Group oppose it on environmental grounds. If Shropshire Council wants to be ‘green’ – as new leader Lezley Picton claims – there is only one course of action left.”
Campaigners have also raised the threat of legal action against the road, highlighting objections from organisations such as the Environment Agency, Morris Leisure and Barratt/David Wilson Homes. These have flagged many errors and omissions in the application such as incomplete surveys, weak analysis, problems with the traffic modelling and the fact that the outline business case dates from before the county’s Climate Emergency declaration and Covid-19.
Says Mr Streetly: “The planning application is not fit for purpose and is very vulnerable to a legal challenge or being thrown out at public inquiry. We urge Shropshire Council to take a breath and reconsider instead of throwing good money after bad on this scheme.
“Before you buy a phone or a fridge, you do your research to find the model that’s best for you. An £87m road project is no different. Shropshire needs to follow the example of Hereford Council, which paused and reviewed its bypass and thoroughly assessed a range of alternate transport solutions for comparison. Shrewsbury doesn’t want or need this 40-year-old road plan. Our town deserves a transport package fit for the 21st Century.”