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More than £400,000 of taxpayer cash is set to be pumped into the long-awaited Blyth Relief Road after the cost of the scheme jumped by almost £3 million in less than a year.

The council approved the draft business case for the project in July last year, with the project forecast to cost a total of £43.9 million. The council is set to meet 15%, or just under £6.6 million, of that bill.

Since then the cost of the scheme has increased to £46.8 million due to “inflationary pressures,” meaning the council’s contribution must increase to maintain the required 15% contribution.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the council’s cabinet, members agreed to provide an additional £431,214, bringing the total contribution from the council to more than £7 million.

Plans for a relief road in Blyth have previously been consulted on.

Speaking at the meeting, Kitty Brewster’s Conservative councillor Wojciech Ploszaj outlined the scheme’s importance to the town.

He said: “This is very important for Blyth. It has been on the agenda for about 30 years. We finally will deliver it by 2026.

“We are asking to allocate an additional £400,000 for inflationary pressures.

"I hope you will approve this, as a resident of Blyth and a councillor for Blyth also.”

Council leader Glen Sanderson added: “It is a really important project, this. It is good to see we are not taking our foot off the pedal for this and we are keeping the work going.

“I hope this is a clear signal of the intent of this administration to make sure that we do provide a relief road for Blyth, something that has been talked about, but nothing has actually happened.”

A report presented to members said the project still demonstrated “high value for money” but warned that the project had “slipped” by two to three months.

Despite this, opportunities were “being explored to recover this time,” with a view to opening the road by February 2026.

Current proposals for the road involve the realignment and dualling of the existing A1061 Laverock Hall Road.

An additional link is also proposed between Chase Farm Drive and Ogle Drive, in order to cut traffic queues along Cowpen Road.

The cabinet unanimously approved the additional funding.

Northumberland County Council pumps £400,000 into Blyth relief road project amid soaring costs