TRAFFIC lights are set to be installed on a busy roundabout to ease long tailbacks, it has been announced.

Council bosses have confirmed that signals are set to be installed on the southern roundabout at the top of Westway within the next few weeks.

Traffic lights were introduced at the first roundabout - and the middle spur ‘filled in’ - last July and have proved successful after early teething troubles.

And it is hoped that the development will help to unlock the potential of the soon-to-be developed Burnley Knowledge Park, Heasandford and Rossendale Road.

Coun Shah Hussain, regeneration cabinet member, said in a report: “Work is due to commence in the next few weeks to signalise the southern roundabout at the M65 Gannow junction.

“This should have a major beneficial effect on traffic flows to and from Burnley town centre.

“The council has also been working with the county council to identify key junction improvements, particularly around the town centre and on the M65 that will assist in unlocking further economic growth in the borough.”

The funding for works will be requested as part a ‘Local Growth Deal’, which has been submitted to Whitehall by the Lancashire Economic Partnership.

Burnley MP Gordon Birtwistle has welcomed the announcement after being caught in a serious jam trying to reach Gannow roundabout this week.

He said: “Burnley is so busy these days that the traffic at that roundabout is immense so I would support this move wholeheartedly.

“The lights were installed on the other roundabout and they have worked perfectly. This is a very heavily-trafficked area - the other night I was queued back to the traffic lights near Trafalgar Street."

Coun Matthew Isherwood, a Conservative who represents Cliviger and Worsthorne, has also led calls to improve the road network along the Accrington Road corridor ahead of tenants being secured for the newly-opened Burnley Bridge business park.

Under the East Lancashire Public Transport Masterplan consultation, his borough council colleagues have also prioritised improvements to the Gannow to junction nine corridor.