RESIDENTS said council bosses are rushing into building the controversial East Darwen Link Road over fears the grant money will expire.

The new link road, which will run between Marsh House Lane and Ivinson Road, was designed to offer access to the numerous new housing developments earmarked for the area.

However, the residents who will be affected by the work to build the road said they are angry the road will go ahead despite no developers signed up to build houses in the area.

The road was designed to serve a development of 350 new homes at Bailey’s Field.

One resident, who lives in nearby Shelley Grove, said: "The council arranged for John Wilson from the planning department to come to speak to us about the housing plans last week.

“He said that housing developers Miller Homes had pulled out and weren’t going to be developing the land.

"There are no houses coming any time soon so it will be a road to nowhere.

"When you see the beauty spot it will spoil and the enormity of the project you just think, why on earth would anyone want to do it?

“The £3million should be spent on making Darwen better."

The road, which will cost £3million to build, will be funded by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership to support infrastructure development in the county.

Borough regeneration boss, Cllr Phil Riley, said: “The grant that is paying for the road is only available until 2019, so the project has to be started by then.

“Bailey’s Field has been ear marked for housing since the 90s.

“There will be a planning meeting on August 17 to discuss planning permission.”

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: “There are no planning applications for housing at the Baileys Field site yet.

“The land is currently being promoted by land agents.”

Cllr Riley said: "Bailey's Field is landlocked, and you cant have a housing site that’s land locked.

“The new road will make it more attractive to housing developers.

“There are also a lot of housing developments in the area that will benefit from the road which is why we are continuing with it.”