COLNE'S North Valley Road faces a massive problem - one that will continue to affect local residents and harrassed pedestrians for years until a proposed by-pass comes to their rescue.

"We have been badly let down by Lancashire County Council which dumped the end of a motorway in the town and failed to build the by-pass to take the Traffic round instead of through Colne," said local councillor Tony Greaves.

Since the M65 was extended eastwards around Blackburn to link up with the M61 and M6, there has been a noticeable increase in traffic along the North Valley and northwards along the A56 through Foulridge, Kelbrook and Earby, particularly HGVs and other delivery vehicles.

Coun Greaves is pressing the County Council to go ahead with a traffic survey on North Valley Road as quickly as possible to find out just how much the problem has increased.

"That is the only sure way we have of knowing exactly what effect the M65 link is having on Colne," said Coun Greaves, who predicted traffic gridlock just days before the link was opened.

He said the County Council had promised to monitor traffic through the town and he hoped they would get on with it within the next week or two. "If they don't, Pendle Council will be pressing them to get on with it," he added.

"We want to see the figures to give a clear picture of what is happening. It is very important the County Council gets on with that vehicle count."

Margaret Calvert of Langroyd Road is one of hundreds of long-suffering residents who are waiting for some respite from the noise and fumes.

Traffic going to Skipton uses the hilly Langroyd Road and Mrs Calvert is fed up of the disturbance.

"They lumber up the hill and you can hear and feel the vibrations, even in the back room with the TV on," she said.

"We have to keep the windows shut in summer to keep the noise and pollution out. It can be one o'clock in the morning before the traffic eases up."

Before the link, around 25,000 vehicles a day used North Valley Road.

It was suggested an extra 2-3,000 vehicles would use the road after the motorway link-up.

"There seems to have been an increase in the heavy traffic using the North Valley," said Coun Greaves. "There's always been a lot of cars and, on Sundays, it's all cars along there, but during the week more and more lorries are using it.

"Some people have always used it as a trans-Pennine route but most of the traffic going over the Moss to Keighley tends to be local traffic. "The main trans-Pennine traffic is going north to Skipton and Harrogate. People were expecting traffic to transfer from the A59 to the M65 and that appears to be happening."

Scrapped plans to extend the M65 eastwards through Colne to West Yorkshire would not have helped the North Valley.

The proposed Colne-Foulridge by-pass along the disused railway line would ease the problem but a start date for the project is 2001 at the earliest.

A planning application for the Colne-Foulridge by-pass is expected within weeks but a planning inquiry is almost certain to be triggered by subsequent compulsory purchase and side road orders connected to the major scheme, putting the brakes on any actual work.

The by-pass may also be extended and completed in phases to take new roads past Kelbrook and Earby to make sure the communities aren't faced with a similar problem to Colne and queues of traffic piling off a fast route into narrow residential roads.

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