The projected cost of the planned East Airdrie link road has more than doubled to £185.3 million.

North Lanarkshire councillors were told of the “escalating” cost compared to the original 2014 estimate at a meeting of the enterprise committee, where they agreed that an outline business case for the project cost is to be submitted to the Glasgow region city deal cabinet in August.

Construction of the route – which will provide access to the new Monklands Hospital – is now proposed to take place between September 2028 and September 2030; and £50m of the increased cost is planned to come from funds originally allocated to a dual carriageway extension to the A723 which will now not take place as part of the city deal project.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters