DEADLOCK over the building of a congestion-busting A-road junction looks set to finally be solved, four years after related plans to build a 925-home estate were approved.

Hambleton District Council leaders said they were confident work would start on the A168 south-west Thirsk four-way interchange after its planning committee passed both Linden Homes scheme for 98 homes and Taylor Wimpey's blueprint for 44 homes, part of the second phase of Sowerby Gateway development.

When outline planning permission for the estate was granted by the authority in 2011, despite a wave of objections, protesters said they were concerned the area's transport links could not cope with the 56-hectare development.

As well as housing, the scheme off Topcliffe Road will feature 4,400sq metres of commercial buildings, light industrial premises, an extensive sports village, cycle routes, a community centre and a school.

Developers had agreed to complete the £7.5m junction within six months of the first house being occupied on the 56-hectare site, meaning the roadworks should have been completed in September 2014.

It emerged the delay was related to developer Mulberry Homes being asked to pay highways agencies 144 per cent of cost of the junction, ahead of construction starting, to cover contingencies and other matters.

To finance the cost of the interchange, Mulberry Homes sold land on the southern side of the estate to other developers earlier this year as it faced criticism from the district council over the works stalling.

As part of a concerted effort to get the junction built, the committee was told conditions relating the number of houses that could be sold before the junction was completed had been relaxed.

The developers will be allowed to let up to 249 homes on the estate, excluding extra care flats, to become occupied before the road scheme, which is seen as vital to cut congestion in the area, is brought into use.

The council's leader, Councillor Mark Robson, said: "People accept that the Gateway is being built, but they want that junction."

The meeting heard the developments would include eight bungalows, four one-bedroom, 34 two-bedroom, 48 three-bedroom and 48 four-bedroom houses, 40 per cent of which would be affordable.

A council officer's report into the schemes states: "The scheme provides for a diverse mix of properties that support the viability of the scheme and thereby avoid delay in the delivery of key infrastructure to enable the delivery of subsequent phases."

Sowerby councillor Peter Bardon said: "It is refreshing to find two developers who want to work together rather than against each other."