CONCERNS of traffic congestion and road safety look unlikely to stop a controversial housing development on an ‘eyesore’ canalside site is going ahead.

The scheme by Watson Homes proposes for 127 new properties on the ‘Clayton Triangle’ is recommended by officers for approval by Hyndburn Council planning committee on Wednesday..

Located off Whalley Road in Clayton-le-Moors and bordering the Leeds-Liverpool canal, the six-acre brownfield site is currently derelict buildings.

The proposal for 53 apartments and 74 houses close to Junction 7 of the M65 generated more than 150 letters of objection most about traffic congestion on Whalley Road and the safety of the Hare and Hounds junction.

The concerns of a residents have been backed by former Clayton-le-Moors councillor Tim O'Kane and ex-Hyndburn MP Graham Jones.

A planning officer's report recommends approval with 39 conditions and a contribution of £87,000 from Watson Hoes towards improvements to the Hare and Hounds junction.

It says: "The site has previously been used for commercial purposes but is now vacant.

"It has an unkempt appearance.

"Lancashire County Council as highway authority is not opposed to the principle of development.

"Due to highway safety and congestion concerns it believes this should be limited to the level of development approved under a 2011 planning approval for 95 houses and 24 apartments.

"An intensification above the previously approved scheme is not supported for reasons of highway safety along A680 Whalley Road and at the Hare and Hounds signalised road junction.

" The highway department has, after careful consideration, concluded that the intensity of traffic movements will not increase.

"However it says there are still improvements that could be made at the junction."

Mr O'Kane said: "The latest plans for the Clayton Triangle represent eleven years of trying to make a square peg fit neatly into a round hole since 2011. It wasn’t feasible then and it still isn’t in 2022.

"It’s not rocket science to see that increasing the number of vehicle movements at the most congested junction in the north of England will only make things worse."

Mr Jones said: "It is my view this nothing more than a vanity project of the leader of the council.

"It will have a disastrous impact on traffic with no ambition on housing."

Hyndburn Council leader Cllr Miles Parkinson said: "This is about developing brownfield land not green belt. In 2018 Mr Jones supported this scheme. He seems to have performed a U-turn.

"The traffic congestion problem will not away whether this scheme goes ahead or not. The county council need to build a relief road."