Shrewsbury relief road tender process to start after 'right decision for Shropshire' made
Shropshire Council will start the tender process for Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road after its plans were approved.
The authority's 11-member Northern Planning Committee approved the controversial proposal by six votes to five following a four-hour meeting yesterday.
Speaking after the approval was granted, Councillor Dan Morris, Shropshire Council's cabinet member in charge of highways, said he was pleased that a significant hurdle had been passed.
He said the authority would now begin the process of tendering for a firm to build the road, and preparing its full business case, which will be submitted to the government 'some time next year'.
The full business case will reveal how much the road is expected to cost, with expectations that the final bill will have risen significantly from the 2019 estimate of around £81m.
But, the council's concerns over the potential cost appear to have been lifted in recent weeks, with the government pledging to fund 100 per cent of the road, using money from the scrapped Northern leg of HS2.
Councillor Morris said: "I am obviously very pleased. I recognise that it is a decision that some people do not support, but overall, and on balance I think it is the right decision for Shropshire.
"It is obviously part of a process but this is another step ticked off and I am very pleased the committee has taken that balanced view."
Asked about assurances over potential risks from the road to Shrewsbury's drinking water, which had been put forward by the Environment Agency, Councillor Morris said: "The local planning authority has met literally hundreds of times, minuted meetings, with Severn Trent Water. Severn Trent are solely responsibly for the quality of the water and they have been happy to proceed on the basis that is has been voted on today, so I have every confidence."
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Bowbrook in Shrewsbury, Alex Wagner, had spoken in opposition to the road.
Speaking after the meeting he expressed disappointment at the decision.
He said: "We have still had absolutely no assurances as to whether or not this road can be built without causing irreparable damage to Shrewsbury's drinking water."
He added: "I am frankly appalled this has been passed when these fundamental questions have not been addressed."
