Latest news with #KyleLongmuir
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Cutting North West Relief Road "a missed opportunity", Shropshire HGV driver says
After decades of talking about a bypass to complete a ring of A roads around Shrewsbury, the project is over, or "dead in the water", according to Shropshire Council's new Kidd said the council could not afford to pay for the road after the Labour government insisted that it was not willing to meet a funding shortfall of £ the route was far from universally popular, the latest news has been met with disappointment and frustration from some residents, who have said the North West Relief Road (NWRR) was desperately needed to solve some of the town's traffic driver Kyle Longmuir said the bypass would have taken some of the heavy goods vehicles off the existing A roads, which are already too congested. "It can be quite dangerous and you try not to get frustrated when people overtake you," said Mr Longmuir, from Shawbury."When it's busy it's slow and people make silly mistakes when there's more traffic around because people are impatient."If we could have a better flow of traffic, then people would make less questionable decisions and we wouldn't have as many accidents." Residents living in villages north of Shrewsbury were hoping that the NWRR would have stopped drivers using the area as a cut-through, or "rat run".Tamarin Bibow, who lives in Ruyton-XI-Towns with her husband and young family, addressed Shropshire councillors last month and asked the new administration to outline plans to tackle the problem."We suffer personally, as do may local residents, from serious pollution, both noise and air quality, resulting from traffic forced to come through our village," she said."Most of these vehicles use the rat run only because drivers see no practical alternative."The council said it would continue to assess the weight, width and speed restrictions in the area. What now for Shrewsbury's traffic woes? Both Shropshire Council and Shrewsbury's Labour MP Julia Buckley have co-signed a letter to the government to say that the council can no longer afford to build the road, which was estimated earlier this year at £ council is waiting to find out if it has to pay the government back the £54.4m it was awarded in 2019 to contribute towards the project, then valued at £ than £20m of the Department for Transport funding has already been spent, largely on design engineer consultancy fees. Shropshire Council hopes the debt is written off and that it can keep the remaining money to spend on improving congestion elsewhere in the council's Liberal Democrat leader Heather Kidd said Shrewsbury could not afford to wait years for improvements to get under said the council was willing to contribute capital funding towards improvements to the existing A roads around the town, which are managed by National Highways. "I have met with National Highways and Midlands Connect because the Dobbies island is a significant problem for the whole area and it stacks up traffic in either direction," she said."My concern is that their schemes take a long time to come to fruition, so we need to lobby further and use our MPs to make sure it's speeded up."There are things that can be done in the short-term, which will get people on and off that road quicker."Ms Kidd would also like to see improvements to the roundabout where Welshpool Road joins the A5, to the west of Shrewsbury, and the Battlefield roundabout, which links the A53 with the A49 north of the town."We also need to encourage traffic out of the town centre, but until we've done much more around the inner ring-road and A5 and so on, it's going to be difficult," she leader admitted that there was no quick fix and that significant improvements would take years to happen. Shropshire Council is being supported by Shrewsbury's Labour MP, who said she wanted the local authority to keep hold of some of the remaining government grant so it could be reinvested in traffic improvement schemes elsewhere in the Buckley said: "My dream investment with that cash is the roundabout at Battlefield where we've got the enterprise park."She said the roundabout was too small for the volume of traffic."The field next to it is up for sale and I would love to double the size of the roundabout, open up access, and then double the size of the business park," she plans to improve travel and traffic in Shrewsbury have been outlined in the Shrewsbury Moves include improvements to park and ride services, public transport and the pedestrianisation of large parts of the town those plans, Shrewsbury would be divided into three "loops" and the road layout would restrict general traffic passing through the town via the Welsh, English and Kingsland bridges or past the railway station. That would put more traffic on the inner and outer ring roads, but Paul Carvell from the Shrewsbury Business Improvement District said he believed there was enough capacity on those to cope. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Your Voice Your Vote: Relief road a key issue
A bypass that would complete a ring of A-roads around Shrewsbury is one of the issues on the minds of voters ahead of local elections in Shropshire on Thursday. The four-mile-long single carriageway "needs to go ahead", according to Shropshire HGV driver Kyle Longmuir, who got in touch with us via Your Voice Your Vote. The 38-year-old said the North West Relief Road would stop village roads being used as rat runs and improve air quality in the town centre. All of the main political parties fielding candidates in Shropshire Council elections on 1 May are against the project, except the Conservative group. "Professionally, I drive an HGV and often need to get around Shrewsbury and face similar problems [to those travelling in the town centre]... it is impractical to drive through town," said Mr Longmuir, who lives in Shawbury. "So, if there's an accident or heavy traffic, especially around holidays, then it costs a lot of time." He frequently drives through the town centre to visit his wife's parents in Copthorne or take his young son to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. "The centre of town is often the shortest and quickest route [in a car], despite the congestion. Building the relief road would make life a lot simpler and safer for everyone," Mr Longmuir added. However, there are various reasons why people are opposed to a new road, linking the A5 to the west of the town with the A5124 to the north east at Battlefield. Environmental campaign groups claim it would destroy the countryside, create excessive greenhouse emissions and result in veteran trees being felled. Others like Debbie Carvell, who runs a clothing shop in Shrewsbury, thinks the road would not solve the town's traffic problems. "If you build more roads, then you just create more traffic and I think it would be a really bad decision to do that," she said. "More cars will come in, instead of using the Park and Ride [or] bikes or walking into town." The cost of the project is another reason why many people, especially outside the county town, object to the road. The latest estimate puts the total cost of the project at £215m - more than treble the 2019 price tag of £71m. It is one of the reasons why the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green groups on the council wrote a joint letter to the government in February to say they would cancel the funding application as "a first priority" if they take control on 2 May. The letter, signed by Labour leader Rosemary Dartnall and Liberal Democrat Roger Evans, criticised the relief road for offering "no credible solution to the current and future traffic problems Shrewsbury and Shropshire face". It means the road is almost certainly doomed if the Conservatives do not maintain their majority of councillors. National polling and the decline of Tory support at the last general election suggest it will be challenging for the party to hold on to power after next week's vote. Reform UK's national leader, Nigel Farage, mocked the price of the road during a recent visit to Shropshire. The party, which has candidates standing for all 74 seats available, said it was "pro-road" but very concerned by the rising cost of the project. The Conservative group on Shropshire Council said the relief road would take a considerable amount of traffic out of the town centre, improving air quality and the local economy. The party's concerns about traffic problems are shared by local businessman Tony Bywater, who is chairman of the caravan and motorhome dealership Salop Leisure, based near the busy Emstrey Island. "Shrewsbury is clogged and it's not good for our businesses," he said. "Our staff are having to leave home half an hour earlier than normal just to get to work on time. It seems to be getting worse every day. "Shrewsbury is a fantastic place to live and work and the onus is on Shropshire Council to ensure that the town continues to prosper." You can find a full list of candidates standing in Shropshire Council elections on 1 May here. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. Ring road costs set at £215m as budget talks loom Plan to scrap bypass revealed ahead of election Relief road business plan delayed until Christmas Shropshire Council: Shrewsbury North West Relief Road
BBC News
27-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Your Voice Your Vote: Shrewsbury's North West Relief Road
A bypass that would complete a ring of A-roads around Shrewsbury is one of the issues on the minds of voters ahead of local elections in Shropshire on four-mile-long single carriageway "needs to go ahead", according to Shropshire HGV driver Kyle Longmuir, who got in touch with us via Your Voice Your Vote. The 38-year-old said the North West Relief Road would stop village roads being used as rat runs and improve air quality in the town of the main political parties fielding candidates in Shropshire Council elections on 1 May are against the project, except the Conservative group. "Professionally, I drive an HGV and often need to get around Shrewsbury and face similar problems [to those travelling in the town centre]... it is impractical to drive through town," said Mr Longmuir, who lives in Shawbury."So, if there's an accident or heavy traffic, especially around holidays, then it costs a lot of time."He frequently drives through the town centre to visit his wife's parents in Copthorne or take his young son to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital."The centre of town is often the shortest and quickest route [in a car], despite the congestion. Building the relief road would make life a lot simpler and safer for everyone," Mr Longmuir added. 'More cars will come in' However, there are various reasons why people are opposed to a new road, linking the A5 to the west of the town with the A5124 to the north east at campaign groups claim it would destroy the countryside, create excessive greenhouse emissions and result in veteran trees being like Debbie Carvell, who runs a clothing shop in Shrewsbury, thinks the road would not solve the town's traffic problems. "If you build more roads, then you just create more traffic and I think it would be a really bad decision to do that," she said."More cars will come in, instead of using the Park and Ride [or] bikes or walking into town."The cost of the project is another reason why many people, especially outside the county town, object to the latest estimate puts the total cost of the project at £215m - more than treble the 2019 price tag of £ is one of the reasons why the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green groups on the council wrote a joint letter to the government in February to say they would cancel the funding application as "a first priority" if they take control on 2 letter, signed by Labour leader Rosemary Dartnall and Liberal Democrat Roger Evans, criticised the relief road for offering "no credible solution to the current and future traffic problems Shrewsbury and Shropshire face". It means the road is almost certainly doomed if the Conservatives do not maintain their majority of polling and the decline of Tory support at the last general election suggest it will be challenging for the party to hold on to power after next week's UK's national leader, Nigel Farage, mocked the price of the road during a recent visit to party, which has candidates standing for all 74 seats available, said it was "pro-road" but very concerned by the rising cost of the project. 'Shrewsbury clogged' The Conservative group on Shropshire Council said the relief road would take a considerable amount of traffic out of the town centre, improving air quality and the local party's concerns about traffic problems are shared by local businessman Tony Bywater, who is chairman of the caravan and motorhome dealership Salop Leisure, based near the busy Emstrey Island. "Shrewsbury is clogged and it's not good for our businesses," he said."Our staff are having to leave home half an hour earlier than normal just to get to work on time. It seems to be getting worse every day."Shrewsbury is a fantastic place to live and work and the onus is on Shropshire Council to ensure that the town continues to prosper."You can find a full list of candidates standing in Shropshire Council elections on 1 May here. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
