MOTORISTS have been rapped by police for using an "access only" road as a way to avoid traffic delays.

Drivers have been reminded not to use Heber Street as a cut-through to avoid gridlock caused by the Church Street West closure.

Officers stopped 90 motorists on the road, off Blackburn Street, last Thursday (March 12) — reminding them it is to be used as access only.

Church Street West has been closed since July last year for United Utilities sewer works, with traffic diverted through Blackburn Street and Spring Lane.

Motorists have complained of traffic chaos and severe delays of up to an hour at peak times in Radcliffe town centre.

The £1.7 million scheme to build an underground tank to filter sewage from the River Irwell was expected to last 40 weeks but is still ongoing.

Earlier this year, the Radcliffe Times revealed delays meant Church Street West would not re-open at the end of the 40-week period, which would have been this month.

It could now be shut off well into the summer.

United Utilities bosses cited work to clear invasive weeds and erosion on the embankment due to heavy rain as the reasons for delays.

So far they have not given a precise new re-opening date for the road, but said they will update businesses and residents as soon as one is known.

The project to build a new overflow sewer screening chamber was initially expected to begin at the end of April last year.

But the work did not get underway until July, and United Utilities bosses confessed it has not been progressing smoothly.

A large compound has been erected in front of shops in Church Street West for the duration of the project, with business owners complaining of a massive loss of trade.