Notorious Wigan eyesore disappears as work finally begins on new homes

For several years, residents of Scot Lane have had to put up with an unsightly mound of bricks which was left behind when Newtown Labour Club was demolished.

The club itself hadn’t been much to look at, especially after its closure in 2017, but the rubble stayed there stubbornly, even after Little Scotland Developments received planning permission from Wigan Council to build 10 homes and four flats on the site in November 2021.

The heap became even more of an issue once the major new football hub was completed right next door to it at Laithwaite Park and it again appeared in Wigan Today’s rogues’ gallery of eyesores folk would like rid of in 2024.

In recent days though the bricks have suddenly been spirited away.

At first it was speculated that the council or developers involved in the hub had carried out the work, but this is not the case and excavators are now on site, digging foundations.

And it turns out that the land was sold by Little Scotland to Stockport-based civil engineering and home-building firm Westshield which expects to have completed the work by March of next year.

After that the homes will be managed by the Progress Housing Association.

One Scot Lane resident said: “It is such a relief to see that pile of bricks gone. It has been an eyesore for years. Good to see new homes being built too.”