£10 million will be spent on Axminster's relief road

East Devon District Council has welcomed the government’s announcement that it will give £10 million of government money to help the delivery of the Axminster North/South Relief Road. 

The announcement follows a bid made by East Devon District Council for funding through the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF), which was established last year to help fund infrastructure required to unlock housing sites across the country that are currently not being delivered because of lack of funding for infrastructure.  

The money will be used to help fund the delivery of the road, which is currently estimated to cost £16.7 million. The remainder of the cost will be covered from the development allocated in the Local Plan adjacent to the road, which comprises around 650 homes, eight hectares of employment land, including a primary school, and a range of social, community and open space facilities to support the development. The proposed development would not have been able to deliver the relief road without this investment.  

Councillor Andrew Moulding, East Devon District Council Chairman and Axminster Town ward member, said:

“I wholeheartedly welcome this news. It is great to see the government supporting ambitious communities like Axminster that welcome growth and development. This is also great news for East Devon as a whole as it will help us to deliver a key strategic site in our Local Plan and help us to meet our targets for the delivery of homes and jobs across the district. This is money well spent.”