On Thursday 26th Feb 2026 Shropshire Council voted to cancel the North West Road project on grounds of its unaffordability. Shortly afterwards the planning application for the road (which was never formally confirmed by a Planning Decision letter) was withdrawn.
This means that for the immediate future there is no prospect of Shropshire Council wasting money on this financially and environmentally disastrous project. This is a great outcome after many years of hard campaigning – many thanks to all involved. Those of us who have not been exhausted by this battle may now choose to switch focus to campaigning for positive change – getting behind the Shrewsbury Moves Strategy is one way.
There are still a few loose ends:
- We called for a public inquiry into the way that the project was handled (leaving the council £39M in the red with nothing to show for this). The council has said that it can’t afford a formal inquiry but will set up a Task and Finish group to look into it. We hope to contribute to this.
- Council officers are still keen in building the shorter Oxon Link Road (OLR). This still has many adverse environmental impacts and the council’s own analysis has said that it won’t be value for money. However, the council has confirmed that any attempt to resuscitate this project will have to start from scratch so we should have plenty of time to respond if and when that happens.
We will still post any updates on our Facebook page.
Would you like to help any future campaign to promote sustainable transport in Shrewsbury? It would be great to welcome you. Please email bettershrewsburytransport1@gmail.com for details.
You can read more about the road proposal and why was such a mad idea here
We made videos with local people showing how the road would make things worse. You can watch them here .