'˜We need a new M6 junction in Lancashire'

Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle has called for a new junction on the M6 in central Lancashire as traffic levels increase.
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His call comes days after drivers said they feared for their lives queuing up to get off the M6 at Leyland because of jams on both exit slip roads.

Motorists have complained problems with traffic lights onto Leyland Lane are causing tailbacks along the inside lane of the north and southbound carriageways.

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County Council engineers have been sent to the junction to assess the problems, which highways chiefs believe could be down to faulty traffic sensors in the surface of the slip roads.

But they have warned it could take time to resolve the problem due to the volume of traffic which uses both slip roads and Leyland Lane.

Mr Hoyle said the problem was manly down to the increasing volumes of traffic using the motorway.

He said he sympathised with his South Ribble colleagues, and Chorley residents were equally concerned.

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Mr Hoyle said the only solution was a new junction in the Chorley/Leyland area.

He was concerned about how the network would cope when the massive Cuerden Valley development including Ikea was open.

He said: “We need to do something urgently. We need a new junction.

“If it can’t cope now what will it be like when the Cuerden site is open? We should address this issue now.”

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Motorists accessing the Chorley and Leyland area using the M6 in both directions have to leave at either the Leyland or Standish junctions.

Mr Hoyle said his preferred site for a new junction would be at Charnock Richard.

Motorists already use the motorway services as an unofficial junction – going on and off the site. But police could start to reinforce the “no entry” regulations at any point in the near future.

Mr Hoyle said there needed to be a permanent solution.