A new £15m relief road has been opened on the edge of Bury St Edmunds – bringing the hope of new development on the eastern side of the town.

Construction of the Eastern Relief Road, funded by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, St Edmundsbury council and Suffolk County Council, began in March 2016.

The route, which was delivered on time and is more than a mile long, began to be developed around 10 years ago, and unlocks a 67-hectare area for business development and the potential for 15,000 jobs.

The road, Rougham Tower Avenue, was built by J Breheny Contractors and also provides an alternative route for those travelling from Moreton Hall to the A14 – as well as creating an access to the new Sybil Andrews Academy.

As part of the work, Rougham junction on the A14 has been upgraded and connections to utilities have also been provided for sites that are expected to be developed soon.

New footpaths and cycleways are being created – and wildlife has not been forgotten with the creation of badger tunnels and new homes for bats to compensate for disruption to their habitat.

Suffolk County Council leader Colin Noble said: “The opening of this road is a momentous occasion. It underlines our commitment to investing in our great county, bringing development and jobs to the area.

“We and our partners have worked extremely hard in bringing this road to Bury. While it only looks like we’ve laid tarmac, the benefits of this road are far greater – millions of pounds and thousands of jobs.”

LEP chairman Doug Field said: “The Eastern Relief Road was one of our priority projects in our first Growth deal bid to Government back in 2014. To see it come to fruition is testament to all the hard work we and our local partners have put into these plans.”

St Edmundsbury council leader John Griffiths said: “I am delighted and proud that this road has now opened to traffic. We invested £3m ourselves and worked hard to secure funding from the LEP and County Council to bring this to fruition.”

John Breheny, chairman of Breheny Civil Engineering, said: “I am delighted the road is open and hopefully it will lead to good quality businesses and jobs moving into Bury St Edmunds.”