Update on Shrewsbury North West Relief Road ahead of report to full Council

A report on the future of the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR) will be presented to the meeting of Shropshire Council’s full Council on Thursday 26 February [2026]. The report will recommend to Council the cancellation of the NWRR due to it being unaffordable.

For clarity, the NWRR refers only to the part-funded Department for Transport (DfT) section of the road from Holyhead Road to Battlefield. The western section (A5 Churncote to Holyhead Road or “Oxon Link Road”), is currently subject to a separate assessment of options and further announcements on this will be made in due course.

Work on the proposed relief road has been paused since June 2025, after it was confirmed with the DfT that no further Government funding would be made available for the scheme.

As a result, the NWRR project is deemed unaffordable, given the council’s current financial position and with forecast costs rising from the original £74.2m estimate to £162.4m following planning delays and global construction cost increases.