County Hall welcomes borough council’s Melton bypass funding decision

The borough council will now fund £1.75million towards the planned south section, which would connect the A606 Burton Road with the A607 Leicester Road and link with the already approved north and east legs of the Melton Mowbray Distributor Road (MMDR).

The county council had asked the borough council to raise its contribution from an initial £1million as a requirement for it to accept £15million government funding from Homes England towards the £28million cost of the southern section.

County Hall is forward funding around £160million for the infrastructure for the whole project and hopes to be able to recoup that outlay from contributions from developers building thousands of new homes in the town.

It has also asked the borough council to put forward revised plans for securing developer contributions and masterplans for the developments north and south of Melton which the authority has now done.

Responding to this week’s meeting of the borough’s full council, where members unanimously voted to increase how much it will underwrite the relief project for, a spokesperson for Leicestershire County Council told the Melton Times: “The county council welcomes the borough council’s decision and separate assurances about a Supplementary Planning Document and masterplans for the two Sustainable Neighbourhoods.

“The county council’s cabinet does not need to reconsider the position and discussions will continue with Homes England with a view to the grant being accepted.”

The borough council has approved a Staged Payment Agreement for the £1.75million, which it said was a ‘significant’ investment for it as a proportion of its total budget. This amount will be capped so the authority is not liable for any further financial input.

Planning permission is still required for a southern link, but it is hoped it will be built at the same time as the other sections.

Work is expected to start next spring on the £63.5milion north and east sections, which both have funding and planning permission in place.

It is hoped the new MMDR road, passing to the north, east and south of Melton, will be open to traffic in the summer of 2024.