CPRE Shropshire
Protecting Shropshire for Sixty Years
22 July 2009. The wrong solution for Shrewsbury prioritised for government funding. No Way!
Ministers today announced public funding of £85m for the controversial Shrewsbury North West Relief Road as part of the Regional Funding Allocation for the region.
Speaking for CPRE Shropshire, Katy Anderson said that she was very disappointed at the decision:
“I’m surprised that the government has let this through - it is an expensive, outdated scheme. At the moment it takes about 15 minutes to cross the town by car. The road will take a few minutes off that time - for a while - but just like at Newbury, traffic will build up again and wipe out the benefit. So we’ll have spent £85m, destroyed a swathe of the landscape near the town and achieved nothing but increased carbon emissions.”
“Traffic is reducing in the town, due to the efforts of the council - they need to carry on doing what they’re doing and invest further. Better buses, more Park and Ride, safe bike routes and car sharing are all proven ways of reducing traffic permanently at low cost, and are being used by our neighbours Worcester with great success.”
“This decision just means the Council can spend even more money on the road preparing a business case - its by no means a done deal. This will set out the Council’s case for the road which will then be judged on merit compared to other schemes. We doubt that it will be successful, given Shrewsbury’s relatively small congestion problem compared to other towns and cities. This road will be opposed every step of the way because it is the wrong solution for Shrewsbury.”
“We just wish that DfT had thrown it out of the Regional Funding Allocation and saved a lot of tax payers money - £300k per year at last count which could be so much better used - not least on keeping vital rural bus services going which are now under threat due to budget reductions. CPRE Shropshire and No Way! will continue to campaign against the scheme, which cannot not be built before 2017 at the earliest and will still have to go through the full planning process. We will propose alternatives to resolve traffic problems in the town.”
CPRE Shropshire will continue to campaign against the scheme, which cannot not be built before 2017 at the earliest and will still have to go through the full planning process.
- 23 July. A "short-term fix at a really, really high cost". Katy Anderson on the North West Relief Road ("Government 'supports' bypass plan": BBC)
- 23 July. “We’ll have spent £85 million, destroyed a swathe of the ecologically valuable landscape near the town and achieved nothing but increased carbon emissions.” Katy Anderson on the North West Relief Road (Shropshire Star)
- 23 July. Katy Anderson talks to Eric Smith about why the North West Relief Road is a wrong and outdated solution for Shrewsbury.
18 May 2009. For the sake of ten minutes, Shrewsbury's most distinctive fields will be lost. No Way!
CPRE and the No Way! Group have issued a press release calling on the government to reject Shropshire Council's bid for funding for the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road.
- No Way! Press Release
- 19 May. "Protests against town bid for road" (Shropshire Star)
- 29 May. "Town Bypass Decision Due" (Planning)
16 May 2009. No Way! tells the government the NWRR must not be funded
The No Way! Coalition has told the government that the controversial and environmentally damaging Shrewsbury North West Relief Road should not be funded. Shropshire Council and the West Midlands Regional Assembly have bid for the road to be funded through the government's Transport Infrastructure fund. No Way! rejects the case for the road on five grounds:
1. The NWRR is not needed: the level of congestion in Shrewsbury does not justify this level of expense
2. The Carbon Impact of the NWRR undermines the West Midlands commitment to reduce climate change impact
3. The road would cause significant damage to landscape and ecosystems
4. Alternatives are cheaper and more sustainable
5. The NWRR is not deliverable by 2014
Further information on the case against the Shrewsbury NWRR:
The No Way! Group is a coalition including Shropshire Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Shrewsbury Friends of the Earth, Mid and North Shropshire Green Party, HCF Residents Group and the Mount Residents Group.
10 February 2009. Call to drop bid for NWRR funding
CPRE calls on the Government Office for the West Midlands to remove the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR) from its bid for government transport funding. CPRE West Midlands policy officer Gerald Kells says: “The Shrewsbury bypass threatens the landscape around the historic town and CPRE says it is not proven that it will solve traffic problems, rather than simply increase traffic over time.”
CPRE West Midlands is writing to the region’s political leaders to ask them to remove the proposed Shrewsbury North West Relief Road and the Hereford Outer Distributor from the advice they give to Government Ministers on how to spend transport money in the region. The Joint Strategy and Investment Board meets on 17 February to decide its advice to ministers.
The North West Relief Road
Some of the landscape that will be destroyed by the Shrewsbury NWRR
CPRE Shropshire strongly opposes the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR). If constructed the NWRR would cut a huge scar through a highly visible ridge of countryside overlooking Shrewsbury and could lead to further development, including housing on the periphery of the town. CPRE does not believe the level of congestion in the town merits the road. We want to see alternative approaches which support more sustainable transport modes in and around the town.
NWRR Map from the Core Strategy Consultation
Further Information
Unitary Planning Consultation | Regional Planning | Housing | Towns | Litter | Clutter | Tranquillity | Wind Farms | AONB
CPRE Shropshire, Bear Steps Office, St Alkmonds Square, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1UH.
01743 356511. cpre@cpreshropshire.org.uk
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