Council 'cannot afford' Melton Mowbray relief road extension

An artist's impression of the road, which is intended to cut town centre congestion

The southern leg of a town's long-awaited bypass is not currently viable due to spiralling costs, a report says.

Construction of the north and east parts of Melton Mowbray's distributor road got under way earlier this year.

However a Leicestershire County Council report said £27m of increased costs meant it cannot currently afford the southern part of the road.

Council leader Nick Rushton said they had "bent over backwards" to secure funding for the scheme.

The northern and eastern road, which is planned to relieve traffic congestion in the town centre and unlock land for new housing, will be a 4.4 mile (7km) route between the A606 Nottingham Road and the A606 Burton Road.

Plans for the southern section of the road showed it would extend the highway from the A606 Burton Road to the A607 Leicester Road, to the south-west of the town.

'Exhausted all avenues'

But the council now says the project will have to be put on hold due to increased costs.

Mr Rushton said: "We've bent over backwards trying to identify alternative funding methods and lobbied the government for more money to help us get the southern leg over the line.

"We've simply exhausted all avenues and cannot afford to build it at this point in time, given our cost pressures and inflation."

The council will have to turn down £18.2m from government agency Homes England (HE), which was conditional on the southern stretch being fully funded.

Growing construction costs, plus inflation, have hiked the cost of the £43m scheme up to £70m and under the terms of the government funding, the council would have been required to fund the gap of £27m, the council said.