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ARGUMENTS are continuing over a scheme for an accident-plagued road.

Highways officials put forward proposals for pedestrian islands, cycle lanes and new markings in Bury Road, Breightmet.

Conservatives called for a councilscrutiny committee to review the scheme, claiming it would cause congestion by effectively reducing a stretch of the road to single lane.

Their decision angered Cllr Nick Peel, Labour's executive member in charge of roads, who said it was an unnecessary delay to an essential scheme.

But at a meeting this week of the environmental services scrutiny committee councillors voted to refer the plans to a full meeting of the council for a final decision.

Cllr John Walsh, leader of the Conservative group, said: "The plans should be re-examined and all the details should be reconsidered."

He called for a road safety committee to be formed to discuss such issues in the future and said safety could be improved by using railings and anti-skid paint.

The scheme was drawn up in response to a high number of accidents on the road. Between January, 2001, and July, 2007, 129 people were injured.

But Cllr Walsh said: "Many of the accidents would not have been prevented by the scheme."

Peter Molyneux, the council's assistant director of environmental services, told the committee the plans would also incorporate a resurfacing programme.

He argued that similar schemes had led to a reduction in the number of accidents across the borough.

Mr Molyneux said the road would not be physically narrowed from two lanes to one, saying the layout would be clearer.

While an "informal two lanes" were currently incorrectly used by some drivers, the road would in future be clearly marked as one lane.

Only irresponsible drivers would be affected, he said.

Cllr Nick Peel said: "We should trust the highways officers. Accidents are sometimes the fault of pedestrians, but we do all we can to minimise that risk."

The scheme will now be discussed at the next full council meeting on April 23.

2:02pm Friday 11th April 2008

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