Controversial plans to convert former Wigan hotel into flats are given green light

Plans to convert a former Wigan hotel into 24 flats have been approved, to the dismay of neighbours.
The Coaching InnThe Coaching Inn
The Coaching Inn

The Coaching Inn Hotel in Ince will be converted into a house in multiple occupation (HMO) after the plans were given the green light, months after the expected decision date.

The hotel sits on the corner of Warrington Road and Cemetery Road, residents of which had been left anxiously awaiting the decision for more than six months.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In December, resident Alan Ainscough revealed that only one property on the street had received a notice of the planning application,

Mr Ainscough, a self-employed tradesman, expressed his frustration that the plans had been given the go-ahead despite opposition from residents.

“I think it’s disgusting,” he said. “I don’t know what they were thinking; they certainly didn’t think of the community.

“We’ve had a lot of problems around here with crime. And we have trouble parking in front of our own houses already. This is not doing anything for us.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Ainscough said his neighbours were equally “very worried” about the development and the impact it could have on their lives, including the possibility of noise disturbance and crime on the small residential street.

“The police haven’t got the manpower to deal with this. It’s no fault of their own, they’ve had lots of cuts. They won’t be able to come out to a domestic disturbance,” he said.

“Nobody wants this here, why do we have to have this here? Why not put it somewhere where there are no houses. Why put it on the corner of a cemetery?”

The application was submitted by Prestwich-based firm Debtal Architecture.

The former Victorian hotel and pub went under the hammer in August of 2018, having been family-owned and run for more than 30 years.

It was put on the market after the family owners decided to retire.

Related topics: