A MAJOR Bolton road scheme faces the axe because the Department of Transport will no longer fund it.

Shocked council chiefs have been told that there will be no money for the £1 million junction improvements of Tonge Moor Road and Crompton Way.

The work was part of the A58 ring road improvements which have been going on since the late 1980s.

The junction of Blackburn Road and Moss Bank Way has been completed and work is now going on at the junction of Moss Bank Way, Smithills Dean Road and Halliwell Road.

Council chiefs were also hoping to carry out work at the junction of Beaumont Road and Chorley New Road.

But the future of the whole scheme has been put in doubt because the Department of Transport has told planning bosses that the project has "failed to meet the basic criteria for continued support." But a report which will go before planning and environment councillors on Thursday says that they have no idea why this is.

Mr Ray Jefferson, director of planning and environment services, said: "They are not saying that the scheme cannot be done, but they are saying that we cannot have any money which amounts to the same thing.

"We cannot do the full scheme without this funding and if we did it on our own, then the council tax payer of Bolton would have to meet the bill."

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