Final government cash approval for Kingskerswell bypass

Bypassing Kingskerswell is costing £110m

Full funding approval for a long-awaited dual carriageway bypass in south Devon has been given by the government.

The £110m, 5.5km (3.4 mile) Kingskerswell bypass - known as the South Devon Link Road - is to link Torbay and Newton Abbot.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is paying £76.4m towards the cost.

Devon County Council said it hoped work would start in the autumn and be completed by December 2015.

'Stamp of approval'

Devon County Council and Torbay Council have committed £33m towards the scheme, and Teignbridge District Council is contributing a further £500,000.

John Hart, leader of Conservative-led Devon County Council said the funding announcement was the "final stamp of approval for the new road".

The government gave the initial go-ahead for the link road last year after a 50-year campaign by local residents.

Secretary of State for Transport Justine Greening said the final announcement meant locals would "no longer have to put up with endless traffic jams, exhaust fumes and trucks thundering through the village".

Opponents of the bypass claim it will disrupt the ecology of the surrounding countryside.