A £9.3 million investment in Oswestry's Mile End roundabout has been included in a £150 million spending plan by Shropshire Council.

Investments in broadband, business parks, green energy and schools are among the multi-million pound projects to be funded by the authority in the coming year.

The schemes, totalling £150 million, are set out in the authority’s 2021/22 capital programme, signed off by the cabinet on Monday as part of the council’s five-year capital strategy.

It also lists the projects set to come to fruition in the 2022/23 financial year, to the tune of £115m.

Funding for the programme will come from government grants, borrowing and other sources like the community infrastructure levy (CIL).

Councillor Steve Charmley, portfolio holder for assets, said he was pleased to see projects aimed at jobs growth in the pipeline for the coming two years.

They include £9.3m towards improvements at Oswestry’s Mile End Roundabout, awarded from the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund in order to increase capacity of the road network.

He said: “It’s an enabling fund which opens up 800 houses and 500 jobs on the innovation park adjacent to it.”

Meanwhile, £30.3 million will go towards "commercial investments", which while mainly unspecified is known to include a solar farm in Oswestry.

Councillor Dean Carroll said: “Along with external grants that we are already in the process of bidding for, we will be making case-by-case applications which we have already started to do for carbon reduction schemes.

“The first one, as we know, will be the solar photovoltaic (PV) array in Oswestry at Maesbury Road.

“There will be other ones coming down the line – hopefully the Shrewsbury Weir hydro scheme, and, if we can get the buy-in from our partners, a hydrogen fuel production facility in Shrewsbury, battery storage facilities and other solar PV schemes.”

Elsewhere, £4.8 million was put aside to fund the new Pauls Moss medical centre in Whitchurch.

And £3.1m is set to be invested in an expansion of Bishop’s Castle Business Park.

Councillor Lee Chapman, who is responsible for digital infrastructure, said he was “delighted” by the investment of £7.7 million in broadband improvements.

Councillor Steve Davenport, who has responsibility for highways, said there was “a lot of work going on” around the proposed Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWRR) and Pant-Llanymynech bypass, as well as walking and cycling schemes throughout the county.

The capital programme shows £10m of funding in 21/22 and £39m in 22/23 towards the NWRR, which will come from a previously approved £54m government grant.

There is also £17.8m set aside to boost school capacity, including £5.2m towards the new primary school in the Bowbrook area of Shrewsbury and a £2m expansion of Meole Brace Secondary School.

An additional £1m is earmarked to provide extra classrooms and other works at schools including Whitchurch Infants, Whitchurch Juniors, Shifnal St Andrews and Meole Brace Primary.

Councillor Lezley Picton said it was also worth highlighting schemes that were not included in the programme, such as planned investments in swimming provision in Shrewsbury and Whitchurch, which she said would “come online in subsequent years”.

Of the total £150m capital programme for 21/22, £54m will come from government grants. The following year government grants are expected to cover £62m of the £115m total.

Further funds will come from money collected from developers under section 106 agreements and CIL, capital receipts from sale of council-owned assets, and other council pots.

The council will however need to borrow £48 million this year and £41 million next year to fund the remainder, and a report to cabinet by finance director James Walton warned the interest on any repayments would create an added pressure on the revenue budget.

Cabinet members unanimously approved the capital strategy, including the programme of projects for the next year.

The capital strategy also says additional projects worth a total of £215 million are in the pipeline, but are not included in the programme as they are yet to be fully approved by cabinet or full council.