Several residents in the Knott End and Preesall area have contacted me with their concerns about becoming trapped by two un-connected roadworks at either end of Pilling Lane and Green Dick’s Lane, with poor communication from Lancashire County Council.
I have looked across the Lancashire County Council highways bulletin map for the village, and it is quite confusing.
Currently, One side of Pilling Lane has a closure notice in place from 11 May 2026, 10:00 am – 23 May 2026, 12:59am, whilst some works are done:
Confusingly, another roadwork notification is in place on Pilling Lane from 13 May 2026, 07:00 am – 24 Jun 2026, 07:00pm:
As things stand, engineers on the currently-closed section of Pilling Lane advise that this work will be finished by next Thursday (28th May).
Separately, on the 11th May, residents on Green Dick’s Lane were given advance notice of a month-long set of roadworks at the other end of Pilling Road, commencing on 22nd May:
Road signage now says that this work on Green Dick’s Lane starts on the 25th May:
All told, there are 8 roadwork notices in the village in May:
Residents are confused, and I share their frustration and worry about being locked in the village.
I’ve sought some urgent reassurances from Lancashire County Council that there will be no overlap and that residents will always be able to access at least one end of Pilling Lane and Green Dick’s Lane, and as soon as I receive any response I will be posting this below.
”We understand why residents are concerned, especially those who rely on deliveries, patient transport, and other essential services. We also understand the strength of feeling locally about the short notice, the diversion route, and the likely length of the works.We put this closure in place at short notice to protect our planned investment in Pilling Lane. Furthermore, we sought to avoid the scenario outlined in your subsequent email where both ends of the road would be subject to work simultaneously.
We became aware of development works linked to the extension of the Rosemount Avenue site for Progress Housing Group/Breck. These works needed to start urgently. If they had taken place after we had surface dressed the road, they would have damaged the new carriageway and wasted public money.
For that reason, we needed to close the road so the developer could complete their works before we carry out our own surface treatment. This explains why the closure appeared to start earlier than some people expected. Because the situation developed quickly, we had very limited time to give advance notice.
The developer’s works ran from 11 May 2025 until 22 May 2026. With these works complete, we returned to site to carry out the planned surface dressing on Pilling Lane. We know this was a long period, entailing real disruption for residents, road users, and local businesses.
We have continued to work to keep disruption as low as possible and to make sure traffic management remains safe and suitable throughout the works.
Thank you again for raising these concerns with us. We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused, and we appreciate the patience shown by residents during these essential works.”