A road project due to go ahead on the A361 North Devon Link Road at Tiverton will be put on hold because of rising costs.

Mid Devon Council has said the plans to construct a new junction will be stalled because tender prices were submitted significantly above expectations.

The decision was taken after the council was warned that the funding gap had reached £3m and any further delay to value engineer the scheme would likely just see costs rise again in the present high inflationary environment, reports Constriction Enquirer.

Planned work involves adding a bridge across the link road along with northern slip roads and landscaping. This was intended to allow a major housing development of 500 homes to be brought forward and had attracted a £8m grant from the Housing Investment Fund.

The council said it still remained intent on delivering the scheme and would now look for alternative funding.

A report recommending the decision to halt the project on cost grounds said: “It is again stressed that the decision to pause delivery of phase 2 of the A361 junction does not represent a departure from the council’s intention to deliver the Tiverton Eastern Urban Extension scheme and officers will continue to work to progress the scheme.”