ENGINEERS from Lancashire County Council today pledged to meet Burnley Council after town centre traders complained that Traffic chaos was turning customers away.

Members of the Chamber of Trade in Burnley complained to the council about poor traffic management surrounding the town's ring road and trouble spots including Curzon Street, Manchester Road and Active Way.

Secretary Rita Walsh said traders were angry that congestion was forcing customers out of the town.

She said: "The small roundabout at the bottom of Westgate is incapable of dealing with the volume of traffic at peak times and Manchester Road gets backed up.

"In the other direction, Curzon Street merges on to Active Way so there are three ways in and one way out. The traffic lights at Sainsburys in Colne Road ,which we predicted at the time would create difficulties, are just not up to scratch. The timing has to be reviewed."

Mrs Walsh said turning right out of Active Way was almost impossible because of the volume of traffic.

And the group fears the situation will only get worse with the addition of a new Tesco and bus station development in the area. She went on: "We've written to Lancashire County Council pointing these things out.

"The danger is this problem will solve itself when people stop coming into Burnley.

"We need to take some action to modify and improve things.

"It seems that every which way in Burnley you come across a problem."

Neil Hartley, owner of Neil Hartley Tailor and Outfitters in Standish Street and president of Burnley Chamber of Trade, said the problems began with the introduction of the ring road.

"Since they built Curzon Square, they've blocked off entry into this area so we're in a cul de sac situation. You can't get out on to Active Way so we're pushing to get an exit on to there.

"We are purely reliant on engineers to come up with a solution and the council are well aware of it because we've been hammering for a solution for a number of years."

A spokesman for Halfords Superstore in Active Way said the store had not been affected by traffic but they had not done a customer survey on the issue.

Graham Price store manager at Asda in Princess Way said: "I haven't had any business problems that I know of. Traffic has not been an issue to me."

A county council spokesman said: "We have just had a letter from Burnley Borough Council which raises a whole range of issues on traffic.

"We've asked to have a meeting with them to discuss these issues."