The Green Party opposes any plans to build a road across the Severn Valley north of Shrewsbury:
- It would be hugely expensive taking at least £17m from Shropshire Council's budget, plus 100% of any overspend on the project, at a time of very tight budgetary constraint. The money would be better spent on improvements to public transport and encouraging more people to walk, cycle or even car-share.
- It wouldn't work, with any "relief" being temporary at best. Not only would congestion return soon after completion, but the increased traffic generated would further increase carbon emissions at a time when we urgently need to reduce them.
- It would damage an important and unique landscape and its wildlife.
Read our objection to the road on the Shropshire Planning Portal.
Read our letter to the Department for Transport stating our objection to this project.
Local Elections 2021
All Shropshire Green Party candidates have signed up to the Sustainable Transport Pledge as well as the Cycling for Everyone pledge from Cycling UK.
In the news
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Shrewsbury relief road cost estimate 'belongs in cloud cuckoo-land' says group
Shropshire Star, 20 May 2022
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Town council to take opposition to North West Relief Road direct to Government
Shropshire Star, 23 March 2022
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Protesters line road in latest demo against Shrewsbury North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 13 March 2022
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Protestors stage rally over proposed Shrewsbury relief road
BBC News, 12 March 2022
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North West Relief Road for Shrewsbury remains a priority - council
Shropshire Star, 7 March 2022
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Shrewsbury North West Relief Road decision delayed again
Shropshire Star, 16 February 2022
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Protesters form human chain against Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 29 January 2022
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Protest over Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road in national day of action
Shropshire Star, 27 January 2022
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Shrewsbury-centric plans don't help rural areas and should be scrapped, says council
Shropshire Star, 26 January 2022
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Battlefield campaigner's call to protect countryside from Shrewsbury relief road
Shropshire Star, 25 January 2022
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Plea for Shrewsbury relief road rethink after council leader interview raises concerns
Shropshire Star, 21 January 2022
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Campaigners say Shrewsbury North West Relief Road business case doesn’t add up
Shropshire Live, 19 October 2021
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Shrewsbury north west relief road decision not expected before December
BBC News, 13 October 2021
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Ignoring Shrewsbury relief road objections would 'silence public opinion'
Shropshire Star, 10 September 2021
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New Shrewsbury relief road plans branded 'cynical attempt to sidestep concerns'
Shropshire Star, 3 September 2021
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North West Relief Road cost cut by £7m after council changes
Shropshire Star, 2 September 2021
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Campaigners call on MP to oppose £87m relief road plan
Shropshire Star, 14 August 2021
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Campaign group welcomes 'revisions' to Shrewsbury relief road plan
Shropshire Star, 14 August 2021
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Council to make changes to North West Relief Road plans after listening to feedback
Shropshire Star, 13 August 2021
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Shrewsbury relief road would be 'financial disaster', insist leaders
Shropshire Star, 14 July 2021
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'Huge' number of Shrewsbury relief road objections 'a warning sign'
Shropshire Star, 14 July 2021
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'Shrewsbury doesn't want it': Town council strongly opposes 'bonkers' relief road
Shropshire Star, 24 May 2021
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Shropshire Council's Labour group leader pledges to oppose relief road plans
Shropshire Star, 17 May 2021
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Campaign group says election shows lack of support for relief road
Shropshire Star, 10 May 2021
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'Hypocrisy' over 'eyebrow-raising' claims amid Shrewsbury North West Relief Road row
Shropshire Star, 6 May 2021
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PM is asked to review Shrewsbury North West Relief Road plan
Shropshire Star, 5 May 2021
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Deadline to have your say on Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road extended
Shropshire Star, 29 April 2021
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Oswestry Town Council objects to Shrewsbury Relief Road
Oswestry and Border Counties Advertizer, 29 April 2021
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Relief road a 'waste of money' as council calls for cash to fix 'terrible' highways
Shropshire Star, 27 April 2021
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Campaigners claim Shrewsbury North West Relief Road could have 'record-breaking' negative response
Shropshire Star, 27 April 2021
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Shrewsbury activists fight to save 550-year-old oak threatened by new road
The Guardian, 26 April 2021
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'Red Rebels' in striking protest at Darwin Oak threatened by Shrewsbury relief road
Shropshire Star, 22 April 2021
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Chamber criticised over 'blind acceptance' of Shrewsbury North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 23 April 2021
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Protestors gather at Shrewsbury’s Darwin Oak to highlight threat from North West Relief Road
Shropshire Live, 19 April 2021
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More than 1,000 objections to Shrewsbury North West Relief Road plans
Shropshire Star, 15 April 2021
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Campaigners hit out at the threat to Darwin's Oak in Shropshire
Shropshire Star, 12 April 2021
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Leaflet campaign to try and stop Shrewsbury North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 29 March 2021
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'Move away from road building fetish' say anti-Shrewsbury relief road campaigners
Shropshire Star, 19 March 2021
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Shrewsbury North West Relief Road plans go live online
Shropshire Star, 2 March 2021
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Council dispute over backing for North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 28 February 2021
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Virtual public meeting looks at Shrewsbury relief road alternatives
Shropshire Star, 24 February 2021
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Shrewsbury relief road 'will be total disaster and destroy wildlife' says campaigner
Shropshire Star, 20 February 2021
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Cars could be driving on North West Relief Road within two years after plans submitted
Shropshire Star, 19 February 2021
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Controversial dam dropped from Shrewsbury relief road plan
Shropshire Star, 16 February 2021
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Shrewsbury relief road planners urged to follow Hereford and shelve plans
Shropshire Star, 10 February 2021
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Campaigners to go through 'damaging' North West Relief Road plans 'with a tooth comb'
Shropshire Star, 4 February 2021
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Opposition to Shrewsbury relief road aired at packed public meeting
Shropshire Star, 31 January 2020
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Group explores route of Shrewsbury's proposed North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 19 November 2019
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Action meeting on Shrewsbury North West Relief Road plans
Shropshire Star, 16 October 2019
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Call to end 'car-centric transport planning' over Shrewsbury North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 28 September 2019
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Debt fears over Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road cost
Shropshire Star, 17 May 2019
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£71m being ‘wasted' on new Shrewsbury relief road
Shropshire Star, 17 April 2019
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Council tax could rise to pay for maintenance on Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 23 March 2019
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The road many thought would never be built clears the final hurdle
Shropshire Star, 22 March 2019
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£54 million funding for Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road officially announced
Shropshire Star, 21 March 2019
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'Irresponsible': Friends of the Earth attack plans for Shrewsbury North West Relief Road
Shropshire Star, 30 January 2019
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Formal announcement on Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road cash due in weeks
Shropshire Star, 26 January 2019
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North West Relief Road: The long campaign to make link road a reality
Shropshire Star, 23 January 2019
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Joy as Shrewsbury North West Relief Road wins £54 million Government funding bid
Shropshire Star, 23 January 2019
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Shrewsbury North West Relief Road: Plea on route going to ministers
Shropshire Star, 14 December 2017
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Shrewsbury North West Relief Road - public get first look at latest plans
Shropshire Star, 18 October 2017
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Shrewsbury North West Relief Road: Watch the 3D fly-through video as consultation opens
Shropshire Star, 17 October 2017
Further reading
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Planning application for the North West "Relief" Road scheme
21/00924/EIA | North West Relief Road scheme. comprising - construction of 6.9km single carriageway (7.3m wide) road; severance of local roads and footpaths; provision of combined footway/cycleway; erection of three bridged structures over carriageway; diversion of existing bridleway/footpath via an underpass; climbing lane on westbound approach; 670m long viaduct; bridge over railway; two flood storage areas; provision of two new roundabout junctions and improvements to two existing roundabouts; associated traffic calming measures, landscaping and drainage schemes | Street Record Welshpool Road Bicton Heath Shrewsbury Shropshire.
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Shrewsbury North West Relief Road
Shropshire Council website pages on the North West "Relief" Road.
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Shrewsbury North West Relief Road – Submission of Outline Business Case to DfT
Shropshire Council outline business case (OBC) for the North West "Relief" Road, 13 December 2017 (PDF).
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Shrewsbury North West Relief Road – Public Consultation 2017
Shropshire Council public consultation exercise carried out in 2017.
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CPRE: The end of the road? Challenging the road-building consensus
This CPRE report reveals that road-building is failing to provide the congestion relief and economic boost promised, while devastating the environment. It directly challenges government claims that ‘the economic gains from road investment are beyond doubt’; that road-building will lead to ‘mile a minute’ journeys; and that the impact on the environment will be limited ‘as far as possible’. The report shows how road building over the past two decades has repeatedly failed to live up to similar aims.
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CPRE: The Impact of Road Projects in England
CPRE commissioned consultants Transport for Quality of Life Community Interest Company (TfLQ) to examine the impacts of road schemes on traffic, the environment, the economy, road safety and land use. This study draws upon evidence of short-term impacts (between one and five years after scheme completion) from over 80 road schemes, published by Highways England through its Post-Opening Project Evaluation (POPE) process. This is supplemented by long-term evidence from four road schemes that were completed between 13 and 20 years ago: the A34 Newbury Bypass, M65 Blackburn Southern Bypass, A46 Newark – Lincoln dualling and A120 Stansted to Braintree dualling.
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Beyond ‘predict and provide’: UK transport, the growth paradigm and climate change
Thirty years ago, Adams (1981) depicted a future UK where everyone was a millionaire lorry driver, simply by extrapolating from contemporary official transport growth assumptions. These assumptions underpinned the ‘predict and provide’ approach which then characterised transport planning. Twenty years later, the New Deal for Transport White Paper (1998) abandoned ‘predict and provide’ as unsustainable. This paper argues that the same growth assumptions that Adams took to their logical (absurd) conclusion have re-emerged to define both transport and the drivers of transport demand. While non-aviation transport is supposed to be carbon-neutral by 2050, the implied reductions in emissions rely on an absolute decoupling of transport demand and its drivers for which there is no evidence in current planning. Targets rely on optimistic, narrowly framed technology forecasts and behaviour change assumptions which appear highly unlikely in the present socio-political climate. Moreover, such is the cost of mitigating these tensions between economic growth and other concerns, it is argued that the targeted outcomes of current policy are as undesirable as they are unlikely. The paper concludes by calling for a transport policy which considers mobility in an integrated, holistic fashion, rather than merely as a dimension of economic growth.
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The UK transport policy menu: Roads, roads, and a dash of multimodalism
A recurring policy of predict and provide with regard to road space to try in any way to meet predicted demand undermines the effectiveness and viability of demand management (and hence voluntary behaviour change) because provision of more road space enables people to retain the habit of car use. [Warning: Behind paywall]
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Campaign for Better Transport: Bypasses don't work
Official analysis of existing schemes has shown that bypasses don't reduce traffic. Instead, they encourage more people to drive and often just move the problem a few miles away.