COUNTRY lanes face 'ruin by rat-run,' says a new report from a countryside pressure group.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England has compiled a list of 50 'lost lanes' throughout England which, it says, are under threat from too much Traffic using them as short-cuts.

These include York Road in the Ribble Valley, Buch Clough Lane in Burnley, Barley Road in Pendle, Bank Head Lane in Higher Walton, the Long Causeway in Burnley and the main road through the Trough of Bowland.

Local CPRE volunteers spent days counting traffic on the roads to compile the report.

Barley Road, for instance, had an average daily traffic level of 744 vehicles, including 24 lorries.

And the Long Causeway had over 1,000 vehicles, with this figure predicted to double in 25 years. One of the problems identified was the growth in tourist traffic, with the Long Causeway, for instance, attracting tourists to view the 18 new wind turbines.

Elsewhere, residents were unhappy about alterations to lanes which had caused traffic to speed up and there were complaints about speed humps ruining the traditional look of country lanes.

CPRE transport campaigner Lilli Matson said: "Traffic could rise in the North West traffic by as much as 112 per cent by 2025.

"But in many areas cars and lorries are already destroying the fabric of country lanes.

"They are forcing people off routes where once they cycled, walked and rode in peace. "Lanes are as much a part of the countryside as the hedges, fields and trees. Yet too many of these lanes are now at risk.

"Action by government at all levels is urgently needed to protect the countryside from a rising tide of traffic in the North West."

The CPRE wants to see lower speed limits on rural roads.

They want measures to stop heavy lorries 'rat-running,' more sensitively-designed traffic calming measures and "moves to increase the costs of road travel".

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