A COUNCILLOR has demanded that action be taken on the A666 in Darwen after seeing long lines of traffic form every morning during rush hour.

Sudell councillor Paul Browne has complained that the traffic has been tailing back for a mile or more from Hollins Grove traffic lights to Hacking Street and wants borough council bosses to see the issue for themselves.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The signals at Hollins Grove have angered many residents and businesses in the town for some time and Cllr Browne said he wants Blackburn with Darwen Council's regeneration boss, Cllr Phil Riley, to come and stand outside his local paper shop and see how bad the traffic is.

He said: "When I go to Sid's Paper Shop in a morning, people say to me 'come on Browney sort these lights out' because they are pathetic.

"I've stood there and counted and they only let four cars out at once and I am challenging the highways officer and the executive member for regeneration to come stand with me at the paper shop and see the extent of it.

"Between about 7.30am and 8.15am it is ridiculous and it was never that bad before those traffic lights were there, it needs sorting."

Cllr Browne has also complained that the traffic is making people use other routes as 'rat runs' to avoid the hold-up.

He said: "Greenway street where I live is being used as an alternative route and it's not on because people come racing down it when they are trying to get to work.

"It's not just the traffic and the rat runs either, its all the pollution this will be causing as well. That's why I'm throwing this challenge out there to Phil Riley because its been a problem for so long."

Cllr Riley, regeneration boss at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said that plans were in the pipeline to create an alternative route into Blackburn so that hopefully the traffic would lessen over time.

He said: "We are very happy to speak with Cllr Browne and try to understand exactly what the issue is because a lot of the time I haven't seen any problem with the lights.

"However, we do know the traffic is increasing on the A666 and we are in the process of creating the Darwen East distributor route as an alternative way for drivers to go."