Call to attend meeting over plan for 550 homes on farmland in Wigan borough
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Property company Lilford Estate is poised to table a planning application for a 51-acre site in Shakerley.
The consultation meeting takes place at Atherton and Tyldesley Botanical Gardens, on Tyldesley Road, Atherton, on Wednesday, between 3pm and 8pm.
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Hide AdLilford representatives will be available to answer questions about the proposals and members of local community group ASPECT will also be in attendance.


The proposed development sits on land to the east of Atherton, south of Bolton Road. It extends about 51.5 acres and is currently used as agricultural grazing land.
Some 550 “high-quality” new family homes, including ample open space and landscaping which provide “lasting benefits to both existing new new residents of Atherton” are planned.
The development will be accessed off Bolton Road, with Marton Drive also providing emergency access.
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Hide AdA leaflet circulated by Lilford ahead of the meeting says: “Increasing demand for new quality housing in Wigan couples with the Government’s ambition to boost housing stock in sustainable locations.
“The land east of Atherton is a prime location for such development, combined with is proximity to existing facilities and services.”
It says that the land is allocated as a “broad location” for housing within the Wigan Core Strategy (2013), and that Wigan Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment has identified it could deliver up to 600 homes by 2039.
The masterplan has been prepared to demonstrate the “developable areas”, public open space, public footpaths and cycleways, new green routes through the development and where the development will be accessed by primary and secondary routes.
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Hide AdDisplays will also be available to view online from Wednesday.
Comments can be submitted by post to East Atherton Consultation Team, Freepost RUGS-SJCY-TZAA, Turley, Level 5, Transmission, 6 Atherton Street, Manchester, M3 3GS or by emailing [email protected] by Saturday, February 15.
Coun James Fish, who represents Tydesley and Mosley Common for the Independent Network party, urging residents to attend in a Facebook post.
One respondent said it was “only a matter of time” before another planning application came forward following the refusal of a plan for housing at Shams Farm at the site.
“550 houses equals over 1,000 cars,” they said. “Needs upgrades to water, electricity, gas, drainage, doctors, dentists etc. We need to strongly object to this as much as we did for the Shams development.
“This is not to mention that it floods every year, with literal streams being created.”
Another contributor said: “Here we go again. Why do they want to build over every green space that’s left.”.
One wrote: “When will they be satisfied? When we are nothing but concrete jungles?”
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