Protests as council sets out case for relief road
It has published a revised business case for the North West Relief Road, which estimates the scheme would cost £215m.
Environmental campaigners held a protest before it was presented to a meeting at Shrewsbury's Guildhall on Thursday.
Opposition parties announced earlier this month they would scrap the scheme if they take control of the authority after May's local elections.
The draft Full Business Case updates a similar document published in November and sets out the possible benefits of the relief road.
The council said it would reduce congestion in the town and shorten the average journey time across northern Shrewsbury by 17 minutes.
It said this would also free up space on the roads for public transport and make it easier to walk and cycle.
The council's business case estimated that for every £1 spent on the scheme, it would deliver economic benefits worth £3.88.
It said this ranked the transport scheme among those categorised as being "high value in the country".
The leader of the Conservative-run authority, Lezley Picton, said the draft document made a "very strong case to the UK government for support and investment".
She also said the £38m of government money already spent on the plans would be wasted if it did not go ahead.
But because local council elections are due to be held in May, there will be no chance for councillors to discuss the Full Business Case before the summer.
Opposition councillors attending the meeting on Thursday said they were furious the document was published 35 minutes before it was due to be held.
Some said they only discovered it had been published during the meeting.
Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green groups have all said they want the scheme scrapped, claiming it is too expensive and will not solve traffic problems.
Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Plan to scrap bypass revealed ahead of election
'Significant weakness' in relief road funding
'Relief road will cut crashes in our village'
No commitment to relief road funding in MP meeting
Shropshire Council
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time Magazine
a few seconds ago
- Time Magazine
Oklahoma to Roll Out 'America First' Test for New Teachers
Oklahoma's education department has announced plans to introduce an 'America First' certification test to ensure that teachers moving from liberal states align with its values. "One of the things that we wanted to do is, first of all, make sure that they're great teachers, right? And No. 2, make sure we're not getting these woke, indoctrinating social justice warriors in the classroom," the state's Superintendent Ryan Walters said in an interview with Fox Digital. Walters said that every teacher moving to work in Oklahoma must pass the test in order to begin teaching, and that Conservative think-tank PragerU will assist in the development of the test. 'We put the Bible back in our history standards," Walters said, adding that the 'America First' test would include questions based on American history and 'common sense.' Walters said the teaching of gender identity in other states was one motivation for the test, which will roll out in time for the upcoming school year. 'We started seeing states like California, New York, Maine as well, that are putting out directives… saying 'In this state you've got to teach your 27 genders',' he said. California state law requires students to be taught about 'gender, gender expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative gender stereotypes… schools must teach about all sexual orientations and what being LGBTQ means,' the state's Department of Education says. None of the Education Departments in California, New York, and Maine make reference to teaching students about 27 genders. Maine has pushed back against President Donald Trump's directive to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' sports. At the start of his second term in office, Trump issued an executive order saying that there are only two recognized genders. 'We love President Trump in Oklahoma,' Walters said, adding that the MAGA agenda is 'saving education.' Walter also claimed teachers coming into Oklahoma were "fleeing the teachers unions, the grip that they've had on them in these blue states.' In 2023, Walters announced a maximum $50,000 bonus for teachers moving to the state with more than 5 years of experience, and for those in the top ten percentile in the United States. Smaller bonuses were offered depending on length of experience and what districts teachers had previously worked in. A spokesperson for PragerU said: 'We fully understand why superintendents of education, like Ryan Walters, feel compelled to protect their students from the extreme left-wing ideologies being promoted in schools through teachers who often do not even realize the damage caused.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Labour Can't Decide What It's Doing With The Internet
Labour seems to be in two minds over how to handle the internet. While Keir Starmer's comms team is now briefing influencers on government policies, his ministers are cracking down on harmful online content – and facing accusations of mass censorship at the same time. On Thursday afternoon, the prime minister will be hosting a reception for up to 90 influencers in Downing Street, who reportedly have a combined following of a quarter of a billion followers and have already been chatting to No.10 over the last year. Invitees allegedly include cookbook author Chetna Makan and former Love Island contestant now anti-revenge porn campaigner Georgia Harrison, along with other TikTok stars and YouTubers. This move has been criticised and praised in equal measure. While a handful of online users claim no serious influencer would want to be associated with this government, some political pundits claim it is a sign that Downing Street is finally getting with the 21st Century. And that may be true: Ofcom recently found 82% of 16 to 24-year-olds use social media for news, along with 28% of people aged over 55. This online-first attitude also seems to be rewarding their largest electoral threat, Nigel Farage, who has 1.3 million followers on TikTok and is currently leading in the opinion polls by a healthy margin. But, at the same time, the government has just rolled out its Online Safety Act, rather undermining their new approach to the web, as critics have pointed out. Meant to protect children by putting age restrictions on various sites, the legislation has created an uproar in some quarters over fears it would create mass censorship and political debate – while also making it harder to monitor online risks for kids. That's because there's been a huge uptick in the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow people to circumvent the age restrictions by masking a user's identity. Data from the Age Verification Providers Association also found an additional five million online age checks a day are being carried out because of the new legislation. Fears that the Act is too broad and vague in its definitions of 'harmful content' have fuelled further concerns that it will force adults to share personal data with global porn sites – paving the way for mass data breaches in a dangerous overreach. Then there's the ramifications that come with putting up barriers online. Starmer even had to laugh off warnings from Donald Trump earlier this week over fears the new law would limit access to his website, Truth Social. Reform UK have leapt on the opportunity to attack Labour, claiming it would completely tear up the legislation – although the party has confirmed it has no new ideas to protect children from the worst corners of the internet. Still, their debate spiralled out of control when the technology secretary Peter Kyle claimed Farage's criticism indicated he would have been on the same side as the late prolific sexual predator Jimmy Savile. The Reform UK leader has since asked for an apology. Of course, plenty of people are in favour of the legislation, which has been quietly worked on by successive governments. The suicide prevention group, the Molly Rose Foundation, noted: 'The Online Safety Act will help save young lives.' The organisation's CEO Andy Burrows pointed out there has been strong cross-party consensus to protect children online in the past. Scrapping it altogether would actually 'go against what Reform voters think,' he told LBC, noting that more than seven in 10 people who voted Reform at the last election want to keep and even strengthen the Act. Meanwhile, Chris Sherwood from the charity NPSCC wrote in PoliticsHome that 'it's deeply concerning to see the rhetoric around the Online Safety Act shift toward loss of free expression.' The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology told HuffPost UK: 'The Online Safety Act is the biggest step change in children's online safety since the internet began. 'It protects young people from harmful content and holds platforms and tech companies to account. 'This is about creating a safer internet – not censoring it – where children can explore, learn and connect without fear of what's behind the next swipe.' But can Labour really expect a positive reception by using influencers to spread its message while fending off accusations of censorship? Only time will tell if the government can have its cake and eat it too. Related... If You Think Adolescence Is Just About Online Incel Groups, You Missed The Point This 1 Hidden iPhone Feature Could Instantly Make Your Online Data Safer – And It's So Easy To Activate Sorry, The Emoji-Over-Face Parents Might Be Right About Online Privacy
Epoch Times
2 hours ago
- Epoch Times
Court Backs Jail Sentence for Bosnian Serb Leader
An appeals court in Bosnia-Herzegovina confirmed on Friday the sentence of a lower court that the Bosnian Serb president, Milorad Dodik, should go to jail for one year and be banned from politics for six years. Dodik has repeatedly called for the Serb-run half of Bosnia-Herzegovina, known as Republika Srpska, to break away and join neighboring Serbia.
