Politicians hit out after council officers recommend approving new Wigan logistics hub

Makerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue and Labour representative for Winstanley ward Coun Paul Kenny both spoke out ahead of next week’s planning committee which will consider the plans for warehouses at junction 25 of the M6.

Other news: Wigan police make four arrests after Lidl store burgledThere has been a long campaign in the area against the proposal by developer Tritax Symmetry, which was previously known as db symmetry.

The 1.4m square foot logistics park has horrified protestors due to the amount of green belt land involved and its possible impact on the area.

Because of the amount of land being removed from protection in order to construct the logistics park councillors will have to be convinced that there are exceptional circumstances which warrant the green belt being built on.

Those opposing the idea have made it clear, following the recommendation from civil servants that the committee should give the green light, that they do not believe this test has been met.

Ms Fovargue said: “I do not accept that this application should be granted approval and I believe that no special circumstances exist that warrant the release of this site from the green belt.

“When countryside is built on, it is lost forever and I have long argued that the planning system should operate on brownfield-first policy, releasing previously developed land for new development.”

Coun Kenny will be attending the planning meeting on Tuesday to give the formal speech opposing the development when the item is being considered.

Coun Kenny said: “Residents have long campaigned to resist development on this site.

“They are now looking to members of the committee to support their objections to this application in the green belt.

“I will be speaking and calling on the committee to support local residents and reject this application and uphold the adopted local plan which designated this site as within the green belt.”

Labour politicians are not the only ones to have spoken out against the scheme, which finally comes before the planning committee in the coming days following a lengthy process.

Wigan and Leigh Green Party has been an outspoken critic of the idea, with its former chairman Will Patterson telling the Wigan Observer previously that logistics was unlikely to generate the jobs advertised due to automation and that the borough should instead focus on the industries of tomorrow and the cities and universities close to the borough.

Campaign group M6 Junction 25 South of Wigan Action Group has also said the proposal is incompatible with the climate emergency Wigan Council declared last year and will make the already-poor air quality in the area worse.

The planning committee meets on Tuesday January 14.