FEARS that ambulances will get caught up in Traffic chaos when Blackburn's new super hospital opens have been allayed by council bosses.

Despite a massive residential estate and two big business developments being proposed along the same stretch of Haslingden Road as the new £90million single-site hospital, traffic bosses insist ambulances will still get through.

The expansion of the existing Shadsworth Industrial Estate has already made Haslingden Road a traffic hot-spot during rush hour.

And residents from the Save Guide Village group opposed a new 42 acre development on the banks of the Fishmoor and Guide reservoirs, off Haslingden Road, on the grounds it could only make matters worse.

Arrowcroft North West Ltd wanted planning permission for a mixed use development which will include food and drink outlets, business units, a hotel and sports centre.

But concern was expressed by residents that the extra traffic would lead to the roads being clogged up.

The proposed development is just a few hundred yards from where Blackburn's new super hospital is to be built. Once completed, all emergency vehicles will go to Queen's Park Hospital because Blackburn Royal Infirmary, home of the area's accident and emergency department, will move.

More than 100 new homes are being built opposite the hospital, Shadsworth Business Park is set to welcome more than 1,000 new jobs in the next year and plans are being drawn up for another industrial park nearby

Pat Kennedy, from the Save Guide Village group, told planning councillors: "Traffic there is already a nightmare, and surely it can only get worse."

But Ian Richardson, from Capita Highways Consultancy, the firm the council uses for road matters, said: "We have undertaken careful studies to make sure the roads can cope.

"A fourth arm will be added to one junction which we are sure will mean that the traffic keeps moving.

"At the same time, we are confident there will be no blocks for 'blue light' traffic."

Approval for the scheme was granted, although each individual building will have to be approved in detail by the planning and highways committee.