The Department for Transport does not hold information on external assessments made of the potential impact of the construction of the North West Relief Road on water supplies to Shrewsbury. Any information of this nature would be gathered by the local authority, Shropshire Council, not the Department for Transport.

The Department for Transport continues to work with Shropshire Council, but has not yet received the Full Business Case (FBC) from them. Once this has been received, then officials will examine the local authority’s proposals before putting any recommendations to Ministers.

The Department for Transport continues to work with local stakeholders, including the MP and Shropshire Council, and is currently awaiting receipt of the Full Business Case (FBC). The scheme, along with its impact, will be assessed by my department once Shropshire Council submit the FBC.

The Environment Agency has not formally objected to Shropshire Council’s proposals for the North West Relief Road. As a statutory consultee, it has been involved in detailed discussions with Shropshire Council and its representatives for several years. Throughout this period, the Environment Agency has offered detailed opinion and advice on several critical matters. Some of these have been resolved and/or noted by the Council. However, the Environment Agency has outstanding concerns about issues to do with protecting the water resources aquifer from which Severn Trent Water draws water supplies for the town of Shrewsbury. The Environment Agency does not consider the information supplied by the Council and its representatives to demonstrate an appropriate level of assessment and risk mitigation. It is for the Council to decide if it wishes further information to be formally submitted to enable the Council Members to make an informed decision. The Environment Agency continues to work with Shropshire Council to resolve this issue and is committed to keeping stakeholders informed.

Given the quasi-judicial nature of the planning system, I cannot comment on this specific project. However, delivering major infrastructure is integral to supporting our levelling up agenda. The department is already consulting on reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

In addition, the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill gives the Government powers to create a new Infrastructure Levy. As part of this, local authorities will be required to prepare an Infrastructure Delivery Strategy, which will make it clearer for communities as to what infrastructure will be provided, and when. They will be expected to engage with relevant infrastructure providers in determining these strategies.

The department is also bringing forward reforms to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) consenting process. We have recently published a cross Government Action Plan, setting out reforms that will streamline and speed up the consenting process for major infrastructure by making it better, faster, greener, fairer and more resilient.

The Environment Agency, as a statutory consultee, has been involved in conversations with Shropshire Council and its representatives for at least three years. The Environment Agency has also engaged comprehensively through its pre-application service to advise on the appropriate level of environmental assessment required to help enable the Council to make an informed decision. It has offered detailed advice on several critical matters that could affect both the project and the town of Shrewsbury. These include protection of the water resource aquifer used by Severn Trent Water to provide water supply, potential flood risk impact and storage compensation, and potential impact on existing biodiversity (including recommendations for net gain to be included). This engagement is ongoing as confirmed in the recent conversations between the hon. Member, Shropshire Council officials and Environment Agency staff.

DfT officials are happy to meet with officials in Shropshire Council to discuss progress with the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road.

There is a duty placed on highway authorities such as Shropshire Council, by Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 (as amended) to maintain the highways network in their area.

The highways maintenance funding provided by Government is entirely for each highway authority to determine how it is utilised to meet local needs in their respective areas, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.

*Funding includes Highways Maintenance Block, Pothole Fund, Flood/Resilience Funding, and the Pothole Action Fund funding streams

The second Road Investment Strategy, published with the Budget, confirmed funding for the development of the A483 Pant-Llanymynech bypass proposal in cooperation with the Welsh Government. The case for constructing this scheme and others proposed along the border between England and Wales will be considered as part of future investment decisions for the strategic and major road networks.

The Department has provided £3.5m development funding to Shropshire Council in 2019/20 from the £54.4m contribution Ministers approved in March 2019 for the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road. Officials will continue to work with the Council as they develop their final business case which is due to be submitted to the Department in December 2021.