Council shares its £30m plans for South East Blackburn

Blackburn with Darwen borough council is investing £30m to help improve transport links in and around South East Blackburn.

This includes the widening of Junction 5 of the M65 as well as improvements to six different active travel routes – making it easier to get around when walking, cycling and wheeling.

Thanks to a great deal of hard work by council officers, £20m of Government funding has been successfully secured for the scheme and the council is investing a further £10m, including using cash from new developments in the area to deliver the upgrades.

More details have now been shared on our website and a drop-in event is set to take place on Monday, 12 August at St James Church, Stopes Brow, Lower Darwen; for residents and businesses to find out more.

Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Deputy Leader of Blackburn with Darwen borough council and Executive Member for Growth and Development, said:

Residents tell us that improving our roads and the way they get around our borough is incredibly important to them and so this is a scheme we’re really pleased to be able to bring forward.

As part of more than £125m of new investment that we have successfully secured in recent years for our borough, we were awarded £20m for improvements in transport in South East Blackburn – in and around Junction 5 of the M65 and wider.

Of course, we want to make the most of every single penny of that for our residents and businesses and have been working on detailed plans for the two different projects – the widening of Junction 5 of the M65 and in what is known as active travel routes, pretty much anything that doesn’t involve getting around in a car.

We’ve now shared more details about the two schemes online and are inviting residents and businesses to call in at a drop-in session to find out more.

The works to Junction 5 of the M65 are aimed at helping to ease congestion in the area and include:

• Widening the roundabout to provide three lanes
• Widening the M65 Eastbound exit to provide three lanes
• Widening the M65 Eastbound and Westbound entry slip roads to two lanes
• Widening the A6077 approach to three lanes at the roundabout
• Widening the B6232 Haslingden road approach at the roundabout
• Re-marking the M65 Westbound exit slip road to allow both lanes to be used for traffic travelling towards Blackburn
• New traffic lights on the roundabout linking to the Guide junction

Balfour Beatty will be delivering the works which are expected to start in 2025.

The active travel scheme – to make it easier for people to get around without a car – is set to start later this year.

Currently, 36% of adults and children aged 5-16 in the borough are doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity a week and the council wants to improve that.

The investment will include:

• Creating new cycleways
• Expanding existing cycleways
• Improving the width of existing pavements so they are safer
• New crossing points
• Installing streetlights in unlit areas to improve safety

Councillor Mahmood added:

Of course, this investment is part of a much bigger picture for the borough and our highways.

Blackburn with Darwen is also set to benefit from major new investment through the new Local Transport Fund, with a focus on things we know matter – including filling potholes, better street lighting, tackling congestion, improving our streets and more.

We look forward to speaking to residents and businesses about the funding for South East Blackburn and encourage them to look at our website to find out more.

For more information on the investment, visit our website.

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