Norwich Northern Distributor Road cost rises by £19.25m

The first section of the road, between the A1067 Fakenham Road to the A140 Cromer Road, has already been opened

The cost of Norwich's northern bypass is set to rise by £19.25m, Norfolk County Council has said.

The first stage of the 12.5 mile (20km) Northern Distributor Road was opened on Sunday.

In February, the budget for the road went up from £178.95m to £187.75m.

The council said extra costs since then included "utility diversions and Network Rail delays" and it had warned about a likely budget overspend five months ago.

Councillors will decide whether to approve the additional expenditure on 27 November.

It is hoped the second section of the road will open around Christmas time

If agreed, the council hopes that £7.25m will come from its capital programme while the remaining £12m will come from a long-term capital funding arrangement submitted to its policy and resources committee in January.

Martin Wilby, chairman of the environmental development and transport committee, said it had been unable to explain how much the budget would go up five months ago "due to commercial sensitivities".

He added: "On a project of this scale, it is inevitable to incur unexpected costs."

Work began on the bypass two years ago and it is due to be completed by next spring.