THE cost of the proposed Bordesley bypass scheme has almost doubled to more than £8.4 million.

Redditch Council chiefs agreed at a meeting on Monday they would have to find the extra funds if they want the Abbey Stadium development to go ahead.

A planning inquiry into the ambitious development opens on Tuesday and the success of this will partly rely on whether the 2.4km A441 bypass could be realistically funded and built.

The cost of the bypass has escalated from £4.6 million after Worcestershire County Council decided it would need to be a dual carriageway instead of the single route originally planned.

Subject to the land being acquired, the road will run from the Cobbs Barn roundabout at the southern tip of the Alvechurch bypass, around the back of homes to the west of Bordesley and rejoin the current A441 at a roundabout near Weights Lane.

But Conservative group leader Councillor Carole Gandy said: "I think the county council has behaved very badly by leaving it this late before telling us that we would need a dual carriageway.

"But if we want the Abbey Stadium plans to go ahead, which we really do, then we don't see any alternative."

Mrs Gandy added: "We will only be funding the Bordesley b-pass if the public inquiry into the Abbey Stadium development is a success."

The outcome of the inquiry is likely to be announced in March.