Work to come up with alternatives to the scrapped Norwich Western Link has taken a significant step, but the cost to develop a new route has gone up by more than £1m.
After months of delays, the Department for Transport has finally handed Norfolk County Council money it promised the authority could use to explore other routes, after the previous 3.9-mile link road between the A1065 and the A47 was scrapped.
It means a shortlist of potential options for a new road will be revealed early next year, to go out for public consultation.
But the bill for the work has increased. It now stands at £2.6m, having originally been estimated at £1.4m.
Reform-led County Hall will need to add £1m from its own coffers for that work, some £300,000 more than had been previously agreed, with the DfT providing the rest.
Council officers say the cost hike "reflects the impact of programme delays, inflationary pressures, the additional work required to support option assessment and selection, and the need to maintain project delivery capability during an extended period of uncertainty".
They added: "The revised forecast also reflects additional work undertaken to strengthen the evidence base and reduce delivery risk."
Previous plans for the £274m Western Link, which would have crossed the Wensum Valley on a viaduct, were reluctantly withdrawn by the previous Conservative administration at County Hall last year.
That decision was made in the face of environmental objections, including the impact on protected barbastelle bats.
A new road or route needs to avoid a similar fate and, following early stages of considering an alternative, it looks likely a route will have to cross the River Wensum on the A1067 Fakenham Road at Attlebridge and join the A47 at Wood Lane.
That limitation will severely hinder options for where the road would go and means it would be further west from Norwich than the axed plans, while it is likely to be single carriageway, rather than dualled.
Tom Dickerson, cabinet member for highways and transport, recently visited villagers in Weston Longville, one of the settlements to the west of Norwich where people hope a new route will stop rural road rat-runners.
Mr Dickerson said: "I was left in no doubt regarding their strength of feeling about the problems they're facing and that they need a solution, and I really do get it – the traffic when I was there last week was awful, with vehicles bumper to bumper, trying to get past each other on narrow rural roads.
"It's a terrible situation for the people living there and the people in those vehicles.
"The team are now in the thick of the options assessment work. They're aiming to reduce the numerous options that were originally being considered down to a shortlist by early next year, followed by a public consultation on those shortlisted options.
"We've also received funding from the DfT for the options assessment work now – they are funding two-thirds of this work, with the remainder being funded by the council.
"There was a delay of several months caused by a DfT review which has contributed to this, as time is money, and the team have also advised they've identified some additional work to enhance the options assessment.
"While I do want us to keep costs down as far as possible, I also understand how important it is to do a good and thorough job of the assessment work - it's about getting the balance right."
As it stands, Norfolk County Council, along with all the county's councils, is due to be abolished in 2028, with responsibility for schemes like the Norwich Western Link passing to the new Norfolk and Suffolk mayor.
Green county councillor Jan Davis previously said Reform should stop "throwing good money after bad" by pursuing a "costly new road".
And Liberal Democrat county councillor Rob Colwell said: "The fact that the forecast cost of the options appraisal has risen from £1.7m to £2.6m is significant and deserves a clear explanation.
"That is an increase of more than 50pc before we have even selected a preferred option.
"Residents in Norfolk want a solution to the very real transport problems west of Norwich, but after everything that happened with the previous Western Link proposal, the council has to demonstrate that it has learned the lessons."
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