Council leader welcomes prospect of HS2 cash for county projects

Leader of Shropshire Council, Lezley Picton

A number of county schemes were named by the government as receiving funding freed up by Rishi Sunak’s decision to cancel the northern leg of HS2.

The announcement said money would be given to Shrewsbury’s North West Relief Road scheme, to re-open the Oswestry to Gobowen rail line, as well as for new bus stops around Telford and park and ride upgrades in Shropshire, and a slice of a £2.2bn fund to pay for more on-demand buses.

Councillor Lezley Picton, the Conservative Leader of Shropshire Council, said: “Any funding for Shropshire is to be welcomed and we’re very pleased that new and additional funding was allocated to four important highways and transport projects in yesterday’s announcement.

“We’re now looking forward to receiving more details from the Department for Transport to fully understand how much money is likely to be awarded for each of these schemes. Once we have this information we’ll be able to comment further.”

The Shropshire Star has approached to Department for Transport to request details of how much funding will be provided for each of the projects named in the announcement.