Darwen East Development Corridor Works

The scheme involves construction of a new link road 750m in length with a 6m wide carriageway and 2m footways on either side throughout the southern section of the road and a 3m wide non-motorised track on its western side, throughout the northern section of the road between Marsh House Lane and Ivinson Road Darwen with all associated civil engineering infrastructure. To also include various junction intervention works at Ivinson Rd / Oak Grove, Oak Grove / Holden Fold, Priory Drive / Pole Lane, Pole Lane / Sough Road, Watery Lane / A666 Junction and Grimshaw Street / A666.

The new link road site is located within the urban boundary of Darwen towards its eastern extremity, approximately 750m to the east of the centre of Darwen and within the boundary of the Darwen East Development Corridor (DEDC). The DEDC is one of a number of sites allocated for housing development by Policy 16 (Site 16/14) of the Council's Local Plan Part 2 (2015). The link road site consists of rough grassland and is devoid of structures, other than hard standing associated with Ellison Fold Lane which dissects the site from east to west and connects a farmhouse to the east with Ellison Fold Terrace to the west. The site is surrounded by residential areas to the north, west and south with rough grassland and an isolated farmhouse located to the east. It is surrounded by residential areas to the north, west and south with rough grassland and an isolated farmhouse located to the east.

The improvements are required to reduce congestion across Darwen, whilst helping to bring forward sustainable growth, particularly which is associated with the future development of the DEDC. The road layout would allow for future junctions to be added providing access to the DEDC development to be located to the east of the road and a connection to Hawthorn Avenue to the north east.

The improvements briefly comprise the following: -

• New compact roundabout at Sough Road/Grimshaw Street/Pole Lane junction;
• Junction Improvements at Pole Lane/Priory Drive;
• A new junction at Priory Drive/Marsh House Lane in order to facilitate a new Link Road;
• A new Link Road across the East Darwen Allocation Site between the above junction and Ivinson Road;
• Junction Improvements at either end of Oak Grove