The £8m Derbyshire road and bridge job is vital to Roger Bullivant’s plans to build 2,200 homes on Drakelow Park, near Burton on Trent.

Bullivant is banking on the project after selling his piling business to concentrate on the development.

McAlpine started preliminary work last September and downed tools over the winter as planned to restart when weather improved.

But delays obtaining agreements to dig up roads have prevented work restarting on the Drakelow Developments road and bridge project.

Chris Chatfield, managing director of Drakelow Developments, told the Burton Mail: “It was always the plan to cease work on the construction of the Walton bypass throughout the winter months.

“There will be a delay in restarting the work due to the fact that the legal highways agreements have yet to be finalised with the relevant authorities.”

Once the bypass is completed work will begin on the 2,200-home Drakelow Park site, a proposed housing and retail development on the former Drakelow Power Station land.

Roger Bullivant was given the go-ahead for the project by Government planning inspectors in November last year, following a public inquiry at Burton Town Hall.

A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: “The Secretary for State confirmed on February 15 that a compulsory purchase order for land to build the bypass had been approved.

“We were unable to proceed with the highways application until this decision was reached.

“The process to finalise the sale of land is expected to take four months during which time we would expect the outstanding highways application to be approved.”