A LABOUR group is asking a local authority to pay for a study into the feasibility a major new links road to cut traffic congestion after the approval of plans for a new housing estate.

It wants Hyndburn Council to allocate £25,000 for the research when it confirms its budget on Thursday evening. The move follows the borough planning committee in August granting permission for 127 new homes on the Clayton Triangle.

At the time, local Clayton-le-Moors councillor and deputy leader of the Labour group Cllr Melissa Fisher warned the development would cause 'chaos and carnage' on Whalley Old Road and at the Hare and Hounds junction near the currently derelict six-acre brownfield canalside site.

The Labour group will move a budget amendment at the full council meeting at Accrington Town Hall.

It will bring forward a proposal to look at the feasibility of the link road from M65 Junction 7 at Dunkenhalgh to Great Harwood to ease congestion in the north of the borough as well as opening the borough for additional investment opportunities.

Hyndburn Council's Independent leader Cllr Miles Parkinson last year backed the idea of a new relief road in the area.

Proposed by Cllr Fisher and Great Harwood, Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors County Cllr Noordad Aziz, the feasibility study will look to work with partners including Lancashire County Council and Highways England to prepare a bid to the Department of Transport.

The study will include input from residents.

Cllr Fisher said “Whalley Road Clayton le Moors is severely congested with poor air quality.

"Numerous reports have established the Hare and Hounds Junction is one of the worst sections of road in the country.

This is only going to get worse with the additional houses approved, so we need a radical solution that resolves this issue and create new investment opportunities for the borough.”

Cllr Aziz, who also represents Netherton ward on Hyndburn Council, said “This is an ongoing issue across Great Harwood, Rishton and Clayton le Moors that requires addressing.

"The study would cost £25,000.

"Traffic congestion in the area will be worsened by the Clayton Triangle development.

"Across Lancashire, significant interventions have taken place in road infrastructure that have transformed areas.

"We believe this is an opportunity worth pursuing,”

Hyndburn Council leader Cllr Miles Parkinson has previously defended the Clayton Triangle scheme and last year said a new relief road needed to be built.