ROADS in an East Lancashire commuter village could be made safer following a visit from Lancashire County Council highways chiefs.

Villagers at Hapton, near Burnley, have been calling for traffic calming measures to be introduced in three particular trouble spots, which have been causing concern.

Their campaign has been supported by their county councillor, Marcus Johnstone, who invited County Councillor Jean Yates, cabinet member for highways, and Linda Sanderson, co-ordinator for the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership to see some of the problems for themselves on Monday night.

Coun Johnstone said: "It was a very useful exercise to get people from county hall here. It is always good to get the people who make the decisions on the ground so they can make decisions based on what they have seen."

They were taken to the main road through Hapton, the A671, where residents are calling for speed restrictions following the tragic death of 39-year-old Accrington motorcyclist, Stephen Fairley, in July.

Coun Johnstone said: "There was a general agreement that 60mph is too fast on that road. It is also confusing drivers because part of the road is 60mph, another part is 40mph and at one point it is 30mph, which is a nonsense.

"We will be looking into reducing the speed limit on there and residents seemed quite pleased with that suggestion.

"But getting speed limits changed is a long process and there will have to be further investigations into it."

Coun Yates and Mrs Sanderson were also taken to Manchester Road, where the access to a new housing estate, opposite Hapton Primary School, is causing concern.

Coun Johnstone said: "We will do everything we can to make that as safe as possible. The police have taken the view that at some point there will have to be traffic lights at that junction."

A mobile speed camera has already been in operation on that road caught 95 motorists exceeding the 30mph speed limit in just four days.

Coun Johnstone said: "That gives a fair indication of the speed people are driving through the village. The warning to motorists is that the mobile camera will continue to operate on that road and anyone caught speeding through Hapton will get caught."

The final trouble spot they were due to be taken to was Simpson Street. However the surface of the road is currently being mended after it collapsed.

But Coun Johnstone said that once work had been completed there would be traffic counts on that road to assess how fast cars were being driven down there.