A RESIDENT is campaigning for a 'dangerous' roundabout to be replaced and is calling for shelved bypass plans to be resurrected.

Derek Bullock claims the raised roundabout in Leigh Road, which turns off into Hartford Road, is almost impossible for HGV and bus drivers to get around.

He says the problem is made worse by HGV drivers using the road as a rat run to the M6 since bypass planes were scrapped 10 years ago.

He claims heavy goods vehicles have been mounting the grass verge or crashing into a nearby railing which runs along the pavement.

He said: “It is a solid roundabout and it needs to be replaced with a flat one. It is extremely difficult to swing around it and the bigger the lorry, the worse it is.

“The HGV and bus drivers end up hitting into the railing to get around it and if someone was stood behind that railing they could be killed. It is almost impossible for them to get around it.”

However a Bolton Council spokesman said: "The roundabout has been in place for more than 15 years and it has a good safety record.

“Every lorry which uses this road doesn’t hit the railings so it is down to poor driving from a small minority.

“The roundabout meets all the standards required and we have no plans to change it.”

It is understood the roundabout was built in the road in 2000.

Mr Bullock, who lives in Lower Leigh Road, said that the Westhoughton road is quite often used as a cut-through for lorries heading to the M6, via Hartford Road. He claims what the town really needs is a bypass, which would stop the HGV drivers using the road.

The 64-year-old, former Conservative candidate for Hulton, added: “I am going to begin a campaign and petition for a bypass which would help Westhoughton, Daisy Hill, Atherton and Over Hulton, as it affects all these communities.

“The bypass would stop the problem with the roundabout but the bypass would take years to build and this needs to be sorted now.”

A Westhoughton bypass road, to be called the A5225, was planned to ease traffic in the area, but the plans were scrapped 10 years ago.

MP Chris Green has previously spoken about how “vital” the bypass is.

Following the news that 3,000 houses could be built on land near to Chequerbent and Hulton Estate in Westhoughton, a proposed link road between Platt Lane and Chequerbent has been put forward.

However Mr Green said the initial bypass plans should be prioritised and said “nothing should get in the way of it.”

He added: “I hear time and time again how congested our roads are, none more so than Leigh Road in Daisy Hill.

“I’ve been working with local residents to revive the plans for a bypass that would follow the old A5225 proposals that should have been built decades ago, but where shelved in the 1990s.

“Wigan Council have already built their section and I am urging Bolton Council to finish their bit and block the plans to build thousands of houses at Chequerbent which would make this link road impossible.

“A link-road would have a huge impact in alleviating the congestion in Daisy Hill and give a more appropriate route for HGVs to get from the Atherleigh Way to the M61.”