SCORES of residents living near the M65 extension at Darwen say the noise of traffic on the motorway is making their lives unbearable and claim that the Highways Agency says it would cost too much to reduce it.

Action, according to the Agency's officialese, is ongoing. But if residents believe this means nothing, their anger and bewilderment at what is going on further along the M65 can be understood - when it includes work by same agency to make the same motorway less noisy . . . for owls.

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