Council to cancel relief road despite £32m spent

A Shropshire relief road talked about for decades is due to be recommended for cancellation as unaffordable, despite more than £30m already spent.

A report on the North West Relief Road (NWRR) in Shrewsbury will be presented to a full meeting of Shropshire Council, which will consider the plan on Wednesday.

The authority said the report referred only to the part-funded Department for Transport (DfT) section, from Holyhead Road to Battlefield. Work on the road stopped in June 2025, after the government said there would be no further funding.

It led the council to deem the road unaffordable. The DfT is yet to decide whether the council will have to pay back the £32m already spent on the project.

The cash-strapped authority would have to use some of its recently awarded government loan to cover the cost, should the DfT request that its funding awarded in 2019 is returned.

The authority said the council's current financial position and forecast costs, rising from the original £74.2m estimate to £162.4m, meant it could not afford to carry on with delivering the bypass.

It added the western section from the A5 Churncote to Holyhead Road, known as the Oxon Link Road, was subject to a separate assessment of options, with announcements to be made in due course.

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