A SENIOR councillor has condemned delays to long-promised road safety improvements to one of a borough's dangerous roads.

Oswaldtwistle representative Peter Britcliffe raised the safety risks on the town's Blackburn Road in January last year and was promised remedial action by Lancashire County Council.

Yesterday he expressed dismayed at its failure to implement the scheme despite official statistics showing that between 2013/14 and 2015/16 it had 63 accidents, the most in Hyndburn. In January last year a car crashed into a house on Blackburn Road.

Now Cllr Britcliffe has written to its highways boss Cllr Keith Iddon calling for the scheme to be brought in before further accidents following a near miss on the road's zebra crossing.

A county council spokesman said the work should be done next summer.

Cllr Britcliffe, who chairs the authority's Conservative group, said: "About 18 months ago I was told the county council was looking at new safety measures for Blackburn Road. Nothing seems to have happened.

"This is is one of the most dangerous roads in Hyndburn and there have been numerous bumps and serious accidents. There was a fatality a few years ago.

"There has now been another incident at the zebra crossing.

"A family was crossing when another car overtook a vehicle which had stopped for them, narrowly missing the children. This could have been a very nasty incident. I really hope we do not leave these safety improvements until it is too late."

A county council spokesman said: "The scheme for Blackburn Road was agreed as part of the 2017/18 capital programme. It will make it easier for pedestrians to cross the road and improve safety by discouraging inappropriate vehicle manoeuvres. It will introduce parking restrictions to improve visibility, add hatching markings in the centre of the road, and repaint the existing zebra crossing.

"Consultation will now take place in the New Year, with construction scheduled for the summer."