LEP seeks reassurance from Council over relief road claims

A major contributor to Shrewsbury’s North West Relief Road will seek written assurances from Shropshire Council that they have not been misled over the scheme.

The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) were responding to an open letter from campaign group Better Shrewsbury Transport(BeST), who claimed the council had presented inaccurate financial figures to the board in order to secure £4.2m of funding for the linked Oxon Link Road project.

The LEP decided last month to go ahead with a funding arrangement agreed in 2015 as part of the £12.9m Oxon Link Road project, which will carry traffic from the end of the North West Relief Road in Shelton and onwards to the major road network, following Shropshire Council’s presentation of an updated business case for the scheme.

As part of its claims, BeST also say the council has understated the risk of a judicial review for the relief road project in its submission, and made inaccurate assumptions about traffic growth as part of its justification for the Oxon Link Road portion of the development, claims which the council has previously denied.

Shropshire Council says it has been “absolutely robust” in its processes, and will share a detailed risk assessment with the LEP shortly.

At a board meeting of the LEP held in Ludlow on Tuesday, January 23, members asked Shropshire Council director Mark Barrow to address the claims via a written response, with Mr Barrow responding that the board should be “re-assured” that the risk assessment due to be shared by Shropshire Council would address all the concerns raised.

“In terms of concerns from a range of agencies we’ve satisfied Severn Trent Water and the only one remaining is the Environment Agency,” he said.

“The EA have a supervisory role over Severn Trent but Severn Trent as a provider are confident… that will get wrapped into the formal conditions that go with the planning condition.”

Questioned about the potential for a judicial review, Mr Barrow said the authority would be in a “robust position” to defend its planning processes.

“Judicial reviews are about process. You can’t issue one because you disagree with the decision, it’s about having full and proper process. To be absolutely robust around proper process we’ve got independent Kings Counsel advice, we’ve got seperate sector-specialists providing impartial advice, so it’s not just us and our consultants, it’s independently verified,” he added.

“In terms of going onto that next stage we’re sure there will be things that raise their head but we feel we’ll be in a robust position to defend them.”

The LEP will await the formal response from Shropshire Council, and have also requested an updated timeline for the Oxon scheme.