Wills Bros has bagged a £16.5m job to build a long-planned bypass around the centre of Cullompton in Devon for the county council.
The UK arm of the Irish contractor edged out bids from Alun Griffiths, Associated Asphalt and MJ Church for the job with four tenders considered at the final stage. A standstill period on the deal is in place and will last until 20 May.
The scheme comprises a 1.3km stretch of 6.5m wide relief road linking Station Road and Exeter Road via Meadow Lane bypass around Cullompton town centre.
Its price tag appears to have come down from the estimated £18m reported last Autumn to a now advertised £16.5m including VAT.
Consultant Jacobs is working on the project which also includes partial realignment of a 60m section Meadow Lane and a change of priority at Duke Street.
The project includes a new four-arm roundabout to connect the relief road to Station Road and Millennium Way and five new junctions to serve existing roads.
There will also be a new 15m single-span road bridge over Spratford Mill Stream, which will include sheet piled abutments and precast prestressed deck beams with a concrete infill deck.
Planning permission for the road was secured back in January 2021 and Mid Devon District Council signed an agreement to funds the project via Homes England's Housing Infrastructure Fund in February 2025.
'For many years our officers have been working hard behind the scenes on what at times must have felt like a monumental task, to gain planning permission, secure funding and garner wider support for this much need project,' said county councillor Steve Keable, cabinet member for planning and economic regeneration on securing funding.
Procurement of the main contract started at the end of 2025 and site clearance work finally began in February this year. Wills Bros are expected to start the main works in July.
The relief road is aimed at diverting extra traffic expected from major residential schemes at North West Cullompton by Bloor Homes and on a site to the east of the M5 where 5,000 homes are planned as part of the Culm Garden Village.
