The controversial Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR) is under threat from the Government’s low value project review.
This is despite a claim from Shropshire Council that it remained within the normal approval process for Large Local Major schemes.
In a post on X, Julia Buckley, Labour MP for Shrewsbury, said that she had a ‘very productive meeting’ she had asked Lilian Greenwood, the minister for the future of roads.
During the meeting she asked for clarity on ‘whether the North West Relief Road had the full £200m allocation under the last Government’ and ‘explained that our residents need certainty on whether we are getting the road or not’.
She wrote: ‘The Minister confirmed the NWRR is currently under review as part of the low value project review, and not currently guaranteed. She will follow up in writing and it will be thoroughly examined as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.’
The reference to a £200m allocation under the last government relates to the current expected cost of the scheme and a claim from former transport secretary Mark Harper that it would be ‘fully funded’.
At present, Shropshire Council only has written confirmation that it is due to receive a Department for Transport (DfT) contribution of £54.4m, based on its cost at outline business case stage.
"The Minister confirmed the NWRR is currently under review as part of the low value project review, and not currently guaranteed."
— Road To Ruin Shropshire (@RoadToRuinShrop) October 9, 2024
RIP NWRR ??@CllrLPicton @Dan4Burnell @TransportActio2 @christoframes @DRobertson_Star @adamgreen30 @ClareAshford https://t.co/3SXNzRvogQ
Last month, the council’s portfolio holder for highways, Dan Morris, said in response to a question from campaigner Mike Streetly that following recent discussions with the DfT ‘we can confirm that schemes such as Shrewsbury NWRR, which are already part of the committed Large Local Majors Programme will continue to be assessed by DfT at FBC stage in the normal way’.
He added: ‘Our understanding is that recent government announcements relate to schemes in other national programmes that have not yet been admitted to programme entry, unlike the NWRR, and are therefore at a much earlier stage in their development. We have been given no reason to believe that government will not continue to support this scheme.’
