Wigan borough residents protest over green belt loss

Wigan Council has included the area behind the Lancashire Mining Museum at Astley, known as Bridgewater West, in its draft Local Plan which is out for public consultation until June 24.

Some 300 houses are planned for the land which protesters say is haven for rare wildlife such as bats and crested newts.

The march was orchestrated by the Save our Astley and Boothstown Greenbelt group on Facebook. Membership of the group has soared from about 100 three weeks ago to 1,500.

On Sunday May 18 some 600 people marched from Ellesmere Street Park, which the protesters say will swallowed up by the development, to Boothstown FC’s ground, along the East Lancs Road and down Chaddock Lane.

People of all ages, including families with children and their dogs carrying banners started the walk with others joining en route.

Marchers also voiced their concern about losing green belt land.

Debra Gill, 62, said: “I think what they’re planning to do is appalling. They shouldn’t be allowed to take green belt land away. The whole point of it is that the land stays green.

Debra Trueman, 57, said:

“I can’t understand why this happening.

"I thought green belt meant they couldn’t build on the land, now they think they can build where they want. We’ve had our fair share of housing and industrial development in this area and now it’s time to let nature return.”

The Local Plan is the borough blueprint for housing development, jobs, transport and welfare for the next 15 years.

It has set a target to build 16,527 homes at a rate of 972 a year.

But the council is also set to move areas of land from green belt into what they are calling “grey belt” and to develop a number of “high-quality” employment sites which the authority says will result in thousands of jobs.

John Connor, 61, said: “This area has already been used for industry when there were coal mines. We should be leaving it alone. Natural England have done lots of things to turn the slag heaps into wildlife habitats. They should leave it alone.”

Former bus driver Michael O’Neil said: “The traffic round here is already horrendous. More housing will make it so much worse. I used to have to travel to Stockport every day to get to work. It would take me an hour-and-a-half and it’s going to get worse.

"I feel sorry for anyone trying to get work from here.”

Sandra Robinson is one of the administrators of the Facebook group said the response to the march was ‘brilliant’ and said that another march was planned with brass bands from Tyldesley, Astley and Boothstown likely to be invited to join in.

“The response from the community here was brilliant,” she said. “We started walking and we were picking up new people all the way along the march.

“At one point the police let us walk down the middle the road because the pavement was too narrow. We’re so grateful to the police, they were fantastic. At the end of the march we all gave them a round of applause.

“We want to do this again, but it takes a lot of organising. It would be great if we could have some brass music next time.”

And she urged people to turn up at the consultation meeting which takes place at Tyldlesley Rugby Union Club in Astley Street, between 2pm and 7pm to view the draft Local Plan and give their opinions.

The Local Plan is intended to dovetail with Greater Manchester’s strategic plan until 2039, known as Places for Everyone.

Council director of place Aidan Thatcher said: “The Local Plan takes a ‘brownfield first’ approach, looking first at previously developed land to allocate sites.

“The proposed allocation of Bridgewater West is an opportunity to create new jobs in our area, in research and development and technology, alongside up to 300 homes.

“The proposals for this site also include highway improvements, a new access and car park for Lancashire Mining Museum and measures to safeguard and support nature recovery at Chat Moss.

“Changes to national planning policy mean that there is a very strong case that this site is now within ‘grey belt’ and, as such, the council has a responsibility to bring it forward in a planned way and not leave it vulnerable to inappropriate development by external parties.

“The views of residents, businesses and other stakeholders are really important to us, and we encourage everyone to share their views as part of the ongoing online public consultation at wigan.gov.uk/futurewigan.”