WORK to lay a water main along a major road to supply a £100million business park is causing ‘chaos’, concerned businesses have said.

Water company United Utilities is carrying out the work in Accrington Road, Blackburn, for the new Frontier Park complex, which lies near the Whitebirk junction six of the M65.

Work is expected to take around 12 weeks, with four weeks of work at the junction of Shadsworth Road and Whitebirk Road in Intack, Blackburn.

Owner of Martin’s Gentleman’s Hairdressers in Accrington Road, Martin Baybutt, said the roadworks were already causing confusion and traffic problems.

He said: “The roadworks are right at the junction of the Intack traffic lights near to my hairdressers.

“They’re on the junction of Accrington Road and Shadsworth Road and Whitebirk Road.

“We were told about the work last week by United Utilities, but we didn’t know where they were going to start digging.

“Temporary traffic lights have gone up at the junction and it’s causing real confusion and traffic problems. You’ve always got people digging up the road here and it is a concern.”

Another business owner, who preferred not to be named, said he feared the roadworks would impact on his trade.

He said: “I’m worried the roadworks are going to stop customers from coming into my shop.

“There has already been heavy traffic because of the traffic lights and there is no where for anyone to stop or cross the road.

“So I’m concerned it’s going to affect my business.”

A shop owner added: “We always seem to have roadworks up here and it creates chaos, so I just hope they’re sorted as soon as possible.”

Borough executive member for development Cllr Phil Riley said: “I understand that roadworks have an impact but the likelihood is that these are essential and improvements will be made. I sympathise though with businesses and motorists and hope they’re sorted quickly.”

A United Utilities spokesman apologised for any inconvenience caused by the work.

The spokesman said: “Work starts today laying a water main along Accrington Road to supply the new Frontier Business Park.

“It’s a big project so to try to minimise disruption it has been scheduled to take place during the school holidays.

“We expect the work to take around 12 weeks to complete and four of those weeks will be spent at the junction of Shadsworth Road and Whitebirk Road."

United Utilities said it had liaised with the local highways department to agree a traffic management plan.

This involves five-way traffic lights manned from 7am to 7pm for the next two weeks followed by another two weeks of two-way manned traffic lights.

The spokesman added: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will do our best to finish this work as quickly as we can.”