A DARWEN councillor told town hall bosses to stop treating residents ‘like children’ over plans to build a relief road in the town.

Blackburn with Darwen Council is asking for views on a new road designed to ease pressure on the A666 by linking Marsh House Lane with Ivinson Road. The proposal is part of a wider plan to build up to 500 new homes in East Darwen.

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But Liberal Democrat councillor Roy Davies said the borough’s ruling Labour group needs to be more candid about the exact route of the new road and whether any houses will be demolished.

“If you do have to knock properties down and CPO (Compulsorily Purchase Order) them, people need to know,” He said. “Don’t treat us like children in Darwen. You can’t consult on something you don’t know about.”

The council launched a consultation process last week and issued a map which identified the junction of Knowle Lane, Moor Lane and Chapels as an area which would require route improvements.

The current confluence of these roads is lined with a row of terrace houses.

“My instinct is that they’ve known all along what they’re actually doing and then piecemeal they’ll just turn around and say we’ll have to start doing alterations to connect up to this new road,” said Cllr Davies.

Colin Wood, who lives in nearby Shelley Grove, attended a consultation event arranged by the council.

He said: “Every time I asked a specific question, I was told, ‘It’s not been planned yet.’ But the road is starting to be built next September, they don’t know where it’s going to go, they don’t know who it’s going to affect, they don’t know which buildings are going to have to be knocked down and they don’t know what parking [there will be] on either side of the road. So it’s like a mystery road.”

On Ivinson Road, Garth O’Neill is extending his house by turning the garage into an additional room.

But he is worried that he will no longer be able to be park his car outside his home when the new route opens or even if the house will be levelled.

He said: “This is going to put us in limbo. We don’t know whether to alter our garage to a porch or turn it back into a garage.”

Cllr Phil Riley, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive member for regeneration, said: “We have gone out to consultation at a very early stage to give residents the ability to feed their ideas into the proposals before we look at the options available.”

“The council will consider all options to deliver the proposed highway improvements to support the scheme without recourse to compulsory acquisition.

“We have taken on board the views of residents and there is more work to be done in terms of looking at what is possible and reviewing the suggestions.

“We will do our uppermost to ensure residents are kept informed at every stage.”

The consultation is open until January 9.

The homes planned for the site are due to be developed by Miller Homes and will be a mixed development of two to four bedroom properties.