PLANS are being drawn up to give the M65 three lanes along its entire length amid fears it will become gridlocked and accident-ridden.

Highways bosses are considering widening the two-lane stretches of East Lancashire's motorway within the next 10 years.

The scheme would cost substantially less than the £100-million plus it cost to connect the motorway to the M6 in 1997.

But councils and businesses today said action was needed sooner - because parts of the M65 are already over-congested.

Two councils - invited by the Government to draw up plans to improve quality of life in the area - are to place the widening of the motorway at the heart of their recommendations.

That is despite the fact the M6 link only opened eight years ago - with rural campaigners today claiming it was built using out-of-date traffic specifications.

Lancashire County Council and Blackburn with Darwen Council's submission to deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's The Northern Way programme - includes a demand for better motorway links into East Lancashire.

They also want the M65 extended over the Pennines - an idea which does not have universal backing. The A56, which links the M65 to the M66 could also be upgraded to motorway status.

The Government asked for a 15-year plan and pledged to back the demands with cash if they could be proved to improve the area's economy - something business leaders say they will have no problem doing.

But the councils consider the M65 a top priority within the next few years and their demands tie in with studies carried out by the Highways Agency.

They predicted accidents will increase dramatically as vehicle numbers rise, partly because the motorway keeps changing from two to three lanes.

Older parts of the motorway currently have an accident ratio than the national average.

Accidents on the newest section happen less often than the national average, but the likelihood of a serious accident is twice the national average.

The studies also concluded that congestion was already a problem on several parts of the motorway, and that will escalate to the point of gridlock by 2012.

One of the reasons for the congestion hot-spots around Blackburn is that the town has developed faster than expected, placing greater demand on the motorway, they concluded.

A spokesman for the Highways agency said: "Widening the M65 is something currently under consideration."

Mike Damms, chief executive of the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said: "We believe there is a need for improvements to the M65 now.

"The M65 has made East Lancashire very attractive to new firms, such as distribution firms, and it is important the motorway remains an asset.

"The idea of extending it over the Pennines runs the risk of creating a lot of through-traffic which doesn't actually stop here, and we feel it is unlikely to happen."

Tony Duckworth, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "The problem with the M65 that we have is that it was built to traffic specifications created about 15 years earlier, before all the delays started.

"I would imagine there will be a lot of objections from people near to it but the latest stretch was built in anticipation of widening it. The cutting at Stanhill is wide enough already and the bridges at the Preston end are wide enough for extra lanes, so the total impact of widening won't be anything like the original construction."

A spokesman for Friends of the Earth said: "Simply extending and widening roads is not the answer. Money needs to be put into other forms of transport for people to use instead of the motorways."