DOUBT has been thrown on the chances of a new £22million road to meet its latest completion deadline within the next two months.

Construction firm Carillion recently put back the expected finish date of the Northern Inner Distributor Road from the end of the year to January 2017 - almost two years late.

Somerset County Council, which is in a legal dispute with Carillion over the final bill, says it hopes the mile-long highway from Staplegrove Road at its junction with Chip Lane to Priory Avenue will be open "as soon as possible".

But independent councillor Mike Rigby said: "Given the history of this project and the continuing vagueness of the public comments emanating from Somerset County Council on completion, I think it would be foolhardy to place any confidence in the idea that the road will open anytime soon."

County Hall is embroiled in a multi-million pound legal row over the bill, with Carillion understood to have demanded several millions of pounds more than the originally agreed cost.

The Government is paying £15.2 million, almost £5 million is coming from developer contributions and the county was initially committed to paying £2.5 million.

The local authority has since pledged a further £3.145 million to the delay-plagued scheme, but it is thought to have refused to give into what it views as Carillion's excessive demands for even more cash.

A council spokesman said: “We remain in dispute with Carillion but continue to push for completion of the NIDR as soon as possible in the new year.”