Money spent on Cullompton road plan during funding bid wait

Plans for a new relief road in east Devon are progressing despite full funding not yet being secured.

Mid Devon District Council is still waiting to hear if a bid to the government's Levelling Up Fund, which will provide most of the £28m for the road in Cullompton, is successful.

Its cabinet agreed on Tuesday to use £210,000 of government cash already secured for technical work.

It expects to hear whether the bid has been successful by the end of January.

If built, the planned road to the east of the town will improve capacity at junction 28 of the M5 in a bid to help reduce traffic through the town centre.

The project would also unlock the development of 2,000 homes nearby, including an initial 500 properties as part of what is being called Culm Garden Village, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council approved a new bid to the government's Levelling Up Fund in June 2022 after an initial bid was rejected in December 2021.

Originally set to cost £15m, costs have increased to a projected £28m; blamed on increased construction costs, replacing sporting facilities and the potential amount needed to buy land.

Planning permission has been granted for both the road and a new home for Cullompton Cricket Club, which will need to relocate.

Richard Chesterton, the council cabinet member for planning and economic regeneration, told the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, which agreed to spend the £210,000, that "hopefully the levelling-up [bid] will be granted".

Cabinet members agreed to use the £210,000, for technical design work, subject to an "agreement on appropriate indemnity" to protect the council from paying back the money if the levelling-up bid fails.

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