Shropshire Council faces new calls to freeze spending on its controversial £170m Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR) project as it ‘resizes’ to stave off financial collapse.
Liberal Democrat leader Roger Evans (pictured) has put down an urgent question for a meeting of the council later this month, having had a motion refused on procedural grounds.
He asks: ‘Given the increased precarious state of this council’s finances, will the present Conservative administration agree to declaring a moratorium be put into effect regarding any more work and spending involved with the construction of the North West Relief Road?’
‘The view of the Liberal Democrat Group is that this should remain in place until official confirmation is received concerning what the actual commitment our Government towards its cost is.’
The news comes as the council this week announced a plan to ‘resize’ to save £27m towards its £62.5m annual savings target – equivalent to a reduction of around 540 full-time posts.
Conservative council leader Lezley Picton said: ‘Our financial position is still exceptionally challenging, and our financial survival is key.’
In February, the highway authority agreed a further £17m capital funding to progress the NWRR, which faces a significant shortfall between an expected £80m central government contribution and its current cost.
The question from Mr Evans reflects significant uncertainty over a pledge to ‘fully fund’ the road made by former transport secretary Mark Harper in a TV interview last autumn.
The Department for Transport (DfT) subsequently told Highways that it was only due to pay 100% of the original cost – around £80m – compared to recent estimates of around £170m.
The election of a Labour government has seen campaigners against the NWRR write to the new transport secretary Louise Haigh MP asking her to scrap it.
Ms Haigh has been given a specific brief to 'prioritise decisions on infrastructure projects that have been sitting unresolved for far too long' such as the NWRR.
