Fylde and Wyre residents turnout for final A585 Skipool Lane to Windy Harbour bypass plans

Public information exhibitions on Highways England proposals to tackle the congested route were held at Wyre Council’s Civic Centre on Friday and at Singleton Village Hall on Saturday.

The exhibitions were to provide residents with current details about the road and project manager Jon Stokes was there to answer questions.

A exact date of when construction of the bypass starts has yet to be confirmed and it’s not known how long the project will take to complete.

Blackpool North and Cleveleys MP Paul Maynard said the bypass is vital to putting an end to congestion on the A585 but plans have sparked some opposition from residents.

Rod Barnes, 66, lives on Mains Lane and attended the consultation.

He said: “I’m not adverse to a bypass but I do believe that with the proposed £150 million budget that it could be spent on extending to the M55. It would be better to go straight to the motorway.”

The County Council’s cabinet member for economic development, Michael Green, said at the time the county council’s report was submitted last summer that he believed the new route will “bring some improvements to the local area” - but warned that officers were drilling down into the details of the scheme.

Meanwhile, cabinet member for transport, Keith Iddon, said councillors in the area had pressed Highways England to mitigate the “disruption and diversions” which would be necessary to convert the existing Skippool roundabout to a traffic light controlled junction as part of the scheme.