A LONG-AWAITED road linking Stanway to Colchester looks set to be delayed again.

Developers of the bypass, linking the A12 with Warren Lane via the Tollgate retail park, have indicated they will not start work and a proposed housing development for another year because of the economic crisis.

The Highways Agency promised Colchester Council in April last year the road would be completed by December 2012 at the latest.

Kevin Bentley, county councillor for Stanway, has demanded a meeting with developers O&H Properties.

He said: “People want to know when it’s going to happen.

“I have asked for a meeting with the developer and Essex County Council highways to see if we can progress this.

“Stanway requires that road.”

It is the second O&H Properties has been called before councillors to explain why work to the bypass has not yet begun.

The firm is constructing the road as part of an application to build hundreds homes in Essex Yeomanry Way, Warren Lane and Maldon Road.

Planning permission was granted in December 2006 but work was not started with the economic downturn to blame.

O&H Properties had to resubmit the application in 2009.

Work was delayed earlier this year after a gas bubble was found under a landfill site and needed to be dispersed.

No-one from O&H Properties was available to comment.