RESIDENTS have been “badly let down” by a decision not to introduce traffic-calming when Darwen Aldridge Community Academy is finished, the ward councillor claims.

Coun Dave Hollings, who was executive member for education between 2004 and 2006, said original plans to ease traffic problems had now been abandoned by the coalition running Blackburn with Darwen Council.

He said: “There are a lot of people who live in Redearth Road who are very concerned about what will happen when the academy opens.

“Traffic will increase and there will be added strain on the local infrastructure.

“I know that when the plans for the academy were put in, there was a commitment to traffic-calming. I was in charge of education at the time.

“We hadn’t got to the stage of deciding exactly what the calming method would be: speed humps or refuge points. But last week I was looking through the council’s Traffic Management Plan and realised it was missing.

“I asked Alan Cottam about it and he told me there were now no plans for traffic-calming on Redearth Road.Somewhere along the way, the wishes of the residents have been forgotten about. I am not very pleased at all.”

Coun Cottam said: “Traffic-calming was investigated as part of the detailed planning which has gone into the Academy.

“Our transport assessment shows that pedestrian crossing and traffic signal improvements will be sufficient to control the traffic safely.

“That went through the standard planning process and was approved.”

Hundreds of homes in the Redearth Triangle were bulldozed to make way for the £48million academy building which is set to open in September 2010.

Pupils are currently at the former Moorland School site in Holden Fold.