Sign up to FREE email alerts from rossendale - weekly Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The streets of Bacup have turned to gridlock ‘worse than London’ today as 15 weeks of roadworks begin.

Motorists and traders have reported chaos following the start of the latest phase of works on the £2m Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) scheme.

Union Street has been made one-way for the duration of the works.

Another bottleneck is the Burnley Road junction where motorists now cannot turn right onto Newchurch Road, only left onto St James Square.

Eye-witnesses have said the turn is too tight for HGVs and drivers have had to stop, get out and move signs and cones.

David Honour, 72, from Windermere Road, said: “It is a massive bottleneck, it was perfectly obvious it was going to be a disaster. How will emergency vehicles get through?”

Alison Fyldes, 36, from Forget Me Nots florist, on St James Square, said: “Never in my life have I seen gridlock like this, not even in London. People are taking two hours for the school run, everyone is arguing, beeping and screaming.

“People are moving cones or driving over them, the whole town is one way. Even a police car was sat with its siren on not moving anywhere.”

The works will see pavements on St James Square upgraded with York stone, resurfacing and three new zebra crossings installed as part of the ongoing project to improve Bacup centre.

As part of the scheme extra visitor parking and loading bays for businesses will be introduced, although there is concern how deliveries will be made in the meantime.

Alison added: “It is the worst idea anyone has ever seen. People were against this and said leave Bacup alone.”

Ahead of the works Lancashire County Council said a clockwise circulatory system would be introduced to manage traffic, via St James Square, St James Street, Union Street and Market Street.

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "We are sorry for the disruption this morning. One of our highways engineers has been on site and we have scaled back the traffic management to allow the traffic to flow more easily for the evening rush hour.

"We will be on site to monitor how it works."

Councillor Alyson Barnes, leader of Rossendale Council, said: “It is disappointing that drivers have suffered such delays and disruption, and we will be raising the issue with Lancashire County Council.

“These roadworks are a necessary part of our £2 million Townscape Heritage Initiative to improve Bacup town centre for residents, businesses and visitors. Changes to the road layout are the final piece of the project and will make the town centre better for pedestrians and cyclists.

“But the county council needs to understand that we are a working borough, people still have to get to and from work during these roadworks so these problems must be resolved as soon as possible.”