North Somerset Council is in a race to build a long-awaited bypass before the deadline to spend the funding arrives.

Building a bypass around the congested village of Banwell was first proposed in 1927. It has been plagued by uniquely terrible traffic since at least the mid-eighteenth century, and today two A-roads funnel traffic into the village which at one point has to go down a single track lane.

In 2020, North Somerset Council was given £97m by Homes England in 2020 to build the bypass and new secondary school. But all that money has to be committed by March 2026, and the bypass has been hit by continual delays.

Now the council is racing against time to spend the money before the deadline runs out. On February 5, North Somerset Council’s executive took less than two minutes to unanimously vote to bring forward £2.4m of “critical activities” to an earlier stage in the project, as time runs out and costs increase.

These activities, which include utilities diversions and the construction of a haul road, will now take place in “stage one” of the project rather than “stage two.”

Council leader Mike Bell said: “This adjustment is crucial to ensure that we tackle the budgetary pressures that have arisen since the project was originally costed and particularly the departure of the original contractor.”

After planning permission for the bypass was granted in March 2023, a public inquiry had to be held into the compulsory purchase orders to buy up the land for the road. The government gave the go ahead “in the nick of time” in January 2024, but only after an intervention by then Weston-super-Mare MP John Penrose.

But just two months later work was suddenly and unexpectedly halted when contractors Alun Griffiths pulled out and said they could not build the road “just as they were getting spades in the ground.” It was not until September 2024 that new contractors were found, with Galliford Try stepping in to build the road.

Mr Bell said: “The project team are at the moment actively talking to Homes England about both an extension of the funding availability period and to help us with the additional funding that’s required as a result of the scheme delays that have occurred.”

The total cost of the bypass was originally expected to be £66m but costs had already increased to £90m by mid-2023, with North Somerset Council and Homes England agreeing to split the £23.9m difference. North Somerset Council’s contributions to the scheme are mainly from Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy contributions, which can only be spent on improving infrastructure to support housing.

The council has until March 2026 to ensure all of the funding it has received is committed, but it is not a deadline to have the road built.

The council is hoping to have the road open in January 2027, with all remaining works completed by June 2027, a whole century since the scheme was first proposed.