NORTH-WEST RELIEF ROAD

For over a decade the spectre of a north-west relief road linking the western and northern approaches to the town has hung over Shrewsbury. Advocates for the road speak of economic gains and congestion reduction in the town centre. Many other people fear for the landscape and wildlife habitats, while also asking if enough has been done to consider another approach altogether. Despite mounting evidence that new roads simply attract more traffic, momentum for the scheme is still going strong.

The scale of the proposed development is vast both in terms of size and cost. It includes a massive river bridge 27 metres high x 120 metres long, which would be visible - and its traffic audible - from many miles away. Public opinion is divided, with 53% supporting a new road and 47% against. Discussion about alternatives to the road has been virtually non-existent, with the exception of some thought given to congestion charging.

Cost estimates exceed £40m, making it one of the biggest investment schemes in the county in recent times. Against a backdrop of public spending pressures and growing concern about climate change - road transport accounts for around a quarter of UK greenhouse gas emissions - the wisdom of such an investment needs careful scrutiny. To this end Shropshire County Council is spending around £800,000 this financial year on a consultation to consider the effects and options.

The direct effects on wildlife would be severe. The road would carve up a large part of the glacial landscape of wetlands and pools, some of Shrewsbury's most distinctive landscape features. Two Sites of Special Scientific Interest and four Wildlife Sites are threatened, along with a Ramsar Site (wetland of European importance) at Hencott Pool. Hencott is actually more of a swamp than a pool, but has a rich flora of fen plants including several rare sedges, cowbane and greater spearwort.

Alkmond Park Pool has abundant aquatic species including water lilies, some rare sedges and a fringe of surrounding carr woodland. It has survived until now, relatively undisturbed and unpolluted. While these sites are not directly threatened with destruction, the impact of the road would lead to a fragmented landscape and inevitably, pollution. Engineering proposals in very close proximity to the pools would also have serious hydrological implications for these ancient wetlands. The Old River Bed, a former

meander of the Severn, cut off some 5,000 years ago, would be destroyed under current proposals, obliterating a fascinating piece of history along with its watery vegetation of rushes, sedges and meadowsweet.

The huge volume of traffic such a road would carry would inevitably bring pollution problems to the River Severn, with consequences for creatures such as kingfisher, otter, Daubenton's bats and Atlantic salmon, currently thriving along the river. Domestic water supplies could also be affected.

There is another serious implication of building the road. A bypass inevitably draws a new development boundary around a town. Shrewsbury has already been designated a regional growth point and will attract a significant volume of new housing and related development in the next 10-20 years. The options as to where new development would be situated become very limited if a relief road is built.

The Wildlife Trust is not sticking its head in the sand over future transport and development challenges but does wonder if the right questions are currently being asked. Have we looked seriously at other ways of improving transport in the town? Is the housing vision for the town being determined by the construction of one big road?

The independent consultants employed to assess the road and its environmental implications have already stated that the impact will be 'significantly adverse'. Some broader thinking is needed if we are to maintain Shrewsbury's characteristic surrounding landscape of river and pools and avoid adding to the carbon burden on the planet.