PLANS for a new £30,000 diabetes and dermatology centre at Chorley Hospital have been shelved over fears that traffic problems are a "tragedy waiting to happen".

Councillors deferred a decision on the facility after concerns that the unit, placed at the hospital's Euxton Lane entrance, would increase the risk of accidents.

The centre would have been used to improve the service currently available to the area's 5,000 diabetics.

But members of the planning committee felt reduced parking spaces and increased traffic would pose major road safety risks.

Now town hall bosses are calling for an immediate top level meeting with county and hospital chiefs to find a solution to the problem.

Council leader John Wilson said: "There is no traffic management at the entrance and it's causing total gridlock. We need a roundabout or traffic lights.

"The bus companies who use the hospital as a terminus may also pull out if they feel their vehicles are having difficulty manoeuvring.

"We have been asking for a meeting with the hospital and county council for more than a year but there has been no action.

"I'm all in favour of the new centre and expect it to be built. But at the moment people are dicing with death and the hospital could have casualties on its own doorstep."

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