TESCO has been urged to act quickly to sell land needed for Cullompton’s £34 million relief road.

Government funding was confirmed last month for the scheme, which is a vital piece of a larger redevelopment puzzle for the town.

The relief road essentially paves the way for a new settlement of 5,000 homes called Culm Garden Village.

While Cullompton’s cricket club has already started moving to make way for the relief road, Tesco has been criticised for not engaging about land it owns but which Mid Devon District Council needs to complete the road.

Councillor Steve Keable (Liberal Democrat, Taw Vale), cabinet member for planning and regeneration, said: “Now Mid Devon has secured funding for the Cullompton town centre relief road, I would urge Tesco to respond and come to the negotiation table.

“The road is key to unlocking 5,000 new homes that are yet to be built and unless the road happens, the much-needed new homes will not, a loss for Cullompton and a business loss for Tesco.”

The issue also came up at Mid Devon District Council meeting this week, when officer Richard Marsh told councillors it still needed to negotiate with some owners to acquire land.

“At the Station Road end there are a couple of land owners in that area, the most significant of which is Tesco,” he said.

“They have surplus land, undeveloped adjacent to the supermarket, and we have, for a long time, sought to engage Tesco proactively about the transfer of the land.

“But unfortunately we have struggled to gain traction in productive dialogue.”

Mr Marsh added there had been “peaks and troughs” in engagement with the supermarket, but that he hoped the recent funding announcement for the relief road “could be the crucial thing that brings Tesco to the table”.

“We hope they will see that we do have the money and the level of local support for the scheme, and therefore want to support its delivery,” Mr Marsh added.

The relief road scheme is aimed at supporting the high street by reducing a substantial amount of traffic from the town centre.

It will also create capacity for traffic at Junction 28 of the M5 by providing a free-flowing exit, and cutting queues down the slip road onto the motorway.

Tesco said it is in ongoing discussions with Mid Devon District Council about the use of land near its Cullompton superstore.