What a relief!

Bridgnorth’s long-awaited Whitburn Street relief road has finally made the transition from dream to reality…

The project has been a long time in coming, and the official launch marks an important milestone in the evolution of the town. The road was designed to help ease congestion in the crowded and dangerously narrow Whitburn Street, and by filtering vehicles away from the bottleneck of Northgate it should contribute considerably to traffic management.

Along with the new hospital and medical centre, the road means that development of the former livestock market site is nearing completion. Controversy has dogged the project from the beginning; despite being near the top of the county council’s priority list for many years, funding was never granted as officials took the view that any commercial company wishing to acquire the site should partly finance the road as a condition of planning permission.

A drawn-out contest between supermarkets Sainsburys and Tesco ensued, with both firms proposing schemes to be submitted for development. Tesco wanted to build a new store on the adjacent car park; Sainsburys was proposing to extent their existing premises. Eventually the Sainsburys plan was adopted, and work on the final section of road began in summer 2008.

Bridgnorth District Council has been the prime mover in pulling together the varied and complicated elements that finally resulted in the road’s adoption. The council is to be replaced by the new unitary body in June, and outgoing leader Elizabeth Yeomans said that she was pleased
that this major project had been completed before the authority was disbanded.

“I never expected to see the road finished in my lifetime,” she said. “It represents a very important facility for Bridgnorth, and the council has worked tremendously hard to make it a reality. With the medical centre, improved car park and new hospital, the whole area has been uplifted; transformed from a desolate wasteland to an attractive site that can only enhance the town’s appeal. Along with other proposed traffic measures, the road should help reduce the high levels of pollution in Whitburn Street and benefit businesses and the people of Bridgnorth. I’m delighted to see it completed at last.”

Plans to improve Whitburn St. are set to go ahead, making it one-way from the Pound St./Salop St. island to the junction with High St. Traffic entering the town through the Northgate will no longer be able to turn right.

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