Shrewsbury North West Relief Road 'will cut off green corridor'

Wildlife campaigners have said they are disappointed by a decision to grant planning permission for a new bypass.

Shropshire Wildlife Trust claimed habitats would be damaged by the road, linking the A5 to north Shrewsbury.

Chief Executive Richard Grindle said: "We have good bits of habitat in the town centre, and farmland, and they have to be joined up".

Shropshire Council said there would be benefits from the bypass such as new cycle routes and reduced traffic jams.

A planning committee approved the North West Relief Road on Tuesday, paving the way for a business case to go to the government.

Mr Grindle told BBC Radio Shropshire that the trust had submitted planning objections to "a ring of steel" being completed around Shrewsbury.

"If you look at a map, you can see this unique green wedge coming in from the north-west, and it's hugely valued," he explained.

Many people have welcomed the decision to approve the development, expecting it to relieve traffic congestion and cut rat-runs through nearby villages.

Mr Grindle said he "understood and respected" concerns about traffic, but that other ways should be found of tackling it.

"We can't see that the costs here, both financial and to nature, are justified by the benefits," he added.

He suggested money could be better spent on public transport schemes such as more on-demand electric buses.

The trust also objected to the scheme on climate grounds, saying the estimated 68,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted during construction would be "very hard to square" with the council's declaration of a climate emergency.

Shropshire Council has said the road will help to improve air quality in Shrewsbury town centre, cut jams and pollution on the A5, and reduce the use of villages to the north of Shrewsbury as rat-runs to and from the town.

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