VILLAGERS have won their battle to ban heavy goods vehicles from using residential roads in Hollins.

A 7.5 tonnes weight restriction order will come into operation tomorrow in a move welcomed by the Hollins Village Community Association which led the campaign.

The roads affected include the full lengths of Croft Lane, Hollins Lane and Hollins Brow plus Pilsworth Road (from Croft Lane to its junction with Pilsworth Way) and Parr Lane (from Hollins Lane to its junction with Sunny Bank Road).

The restriction will also apply to all side-streets off the roads, although there will be an exemption for vehicles which need access to properties in the area.

Bury Council say the order will remove some heavy goods traffic from the residential areas while heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) will be able to access the commercial premises off Pilsworth Road from the M66 Junction 3 and return using Pilsworth Way and Roach Bank Road.

Mr Andrew Taylor, assistant secretary of the village association, said: “We’ve had the problem with HGVs for at least five years.

“Properties along Hollins Lane and Croft Lane were continuously suffering from vibration caused by HGVs driving past terraced properties.

“The level of HGVs seems to have increased due to more commercial development in Dumers Lane.

“We persuaded the council to do a traffic survey to prove that a large number of HGVs were using these routes to join the M66.”

He added: “It’s taken a whi-le but it was all about perseverance. This is a credit to the association and to the people who attended meetings to fight for this.”

Hollins Lane and Parr Lane, to the north of the Sunny Bank Road junction, have been included in the restriction in order to prevent HGVs from travelling westbound along Hollins Lane and ending at the mini-roundabout junction with Hollins Brow and Croft Lane.