Councillors call for relief road decision to be 'set aside' after Environment Agency reveals concerns

Shropshire Council Green councillor Julian Dean and Liberal Democrat councillor David Vasmer, who both sit on the Northern Planning Committee which approved the scheme, have written to the authority's chief executive, Andy Begley, calling for the decision to approve the road to be set aside.

They claim the council’s planning report minimised a crucial Environmental Agency (EA) objection to the scheme in order to secure approval for the new road at the committee's meeting at the end of October.

They say the EA's objections to proceeding with the road were misrepesented to the committee, and the planning officer’s report conflated a request for more information with tacit approval for the plans.

Asked to respond to the claims, a Shropshire Council spokesman said the authority would address the issues when it reports back to its planning committee to discuss conditions for the proposal.

They added "This is the normal process for dealing with such correspondence during the determination stage of an application and isn’t any different for this one."

The letter from Councillors Dean and Vasmer said: "We are concerned that the position of the EA was misrepresented, both with regard to the development of conditions and with regard to their overall position regarding the decision to recommend the application be granted with conditions.

“We cannot see any way forward apart from rescinding the decision on 31st and re-opening discussions with the EA with the aim of providing the required information.”

The committee report had claimed the EA’s refusal to discuss conditions on the scheme created a deadlock which the council attempted to resolve by commissioning an independent review of its Environmental Statement, known as the Waterman Report, in order to allow the scheme to progress.

The report said: “Having regard to the Waterman findings in relation to the contents of the Environmental Statement, it it considered this allows the Local Planning Authority to proceed to determination and secure appropriate mitigation to offset the impacts through suitably worded pre-commencement conditions."

But in a letter sent to the council since it approved the plans, the EA said more work was needed to assess the impact of the scheme prior to its approval, and environmental risks to Shrewsbury’s water supply could not be managed by planning conditions.

“We are not satisfied that the potential impact and deterioration risk to the water environment and public water supply has been adequately assessed,” said EA planning specialist Mark Davies .

“Our opinion/advice was, and is, that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and some key parts of the assessment, including around water supply protection, was necessary to inform the planning application and could not reasonably be conditioned. We consider and have consistently advised that sufficient detail should be provided within the EIA, determined at planning stage and in some cases not deferred to a post determination planning condition. ”

In an earlier statement, Shropshire Council said its plans had addressed all concerns relating to the scheme.

Dan Morris, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways, said: “I understand that the planning authority will address any concerns individuals or organisations have raised in the letter.

“I remain confident that the NWRR when built will deliver a huge benefit to Shrewsbury and Shropshire both economically and environmentally.”