PLANNED changes to Guide roundabout will be a ‘nightmare’ according to residents who fear it will cause parking problems and further destroy the ‘village’ heritage.

The Guide Village Action Group is urging residents to attend a public meeting at Guide Social Club at 7pm on Monday to make their views heard.

The £1.4million road revamp, which includes a crossing and traffic lights, was drafted to ease the congestion that persistently blights Grane Road and Haslingden Road and to improve access to Royal Blackburn Hospital.

But residents say the plans will not resolve the problem and will, in fact, cause further headaches.

Action Group chairwoman Elizabeth Gregory lives in Blackamoor Road and the front of her property will be affected.

The 76-year-old said: “The lights will be right outside my front door. It’s going to be a nightmare and how it is going to improve the situation with the traffic I do not know.

“They have never taken the people and the village into consideration at all.

“Everything has been done to destroy this village but people still live here and it is still my home.”

Other residents are concerned that businesses in Guide will be adversely affected.

Audrey Foy, who has lived in Guide for 32 years, said: “People drive very quickly and a crossing can only be a bad idea.

“There will also be a lack of parking, which will affect the pub, the club, the Chinese restaurant and the post office.”

The pedestrian crossing will be installed at the School Lane arm of the junction with work beginning in July.

The works are not programmed to be complete until December 2014.

The council are also undertaking the full signalisation of the M65 junction five roundabout on behalf of the Highways Agency, thought to be completed in March 2015.

Coun Maureen Bateson, executive member for regeneration, said: “This work at Guide is the next in a series of plans progressed by the council and the Highways Agency to ease traffic congestion to and from the hospital and the industrial areas accessed from Guide and improve journeys for motorists in the Haslingden Road area and around junction five of the M65.

“The council will do everything possible to limit disruption while these works are being under way. The majority will be carried out in the off-peak period. The early widening of the outbound traffic lanes will help the situation as well.”