Wigan Council vows to act over housing estate mess

Complaints about the state of a housing estate have sparked action to tackle the problem.
The fly-tipped mess on “Poet’s Corner”, off Spa Road, AthertonThe fly-tipped mess on “Poet’s Corner”, off Spa Road, Atherton
The fly-tipped mess on “Poet’s Corner”, off Spa Road, Atherton

Residents living on “Poet’s Corner”, off Spa Road, Atherton, have raised concerns about the “lack of maintenance” in the area and said that it was becoming “shocking”.

Fears raised included problems with litter and fly-tipping, overgrown bushes and grass, the condition of paths and lighting.

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Pictures show a sofa, other household and commercial waste and black bin bags dumped around the estate.

More fly-tipped messMore fly-tipped mess
More fly-tipped mess

Atherton councillor James Paul Watson attended a site visit with Wigan Council officers, after which it was agreed action would be taken.

He said measures would include the sweeper deployed, all bushes and grassed areas to be trimmed, lighting to be reviewed, all fly-tipping removed as well as litter and a general tidy-up of the paths.

The estate is named after the former The Poets Corner pub on Spa Road. Previously known as The Pretoria, it closed in 2010.

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Locals are also concerned about the “eyesore” site where Formby Hall used to be, describing it as a mess with the car park full of rubbish from joy riders.

Coun Watson added: “The joy riders and criminality have been reported, but unfortunately this is now private land.”

The popular community hub on Alder Street was demolished in 2017 despite a campaign to try to save it.

Since then, Atherton Residents Association (ARA) has called on the council to provide a replacement hub.

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When a public inquiry was launched in April 2016, residents believed that the hall could be saved from demolition.

It culminated in more than 5,000 people signing an ARA petition to keep the bulldozers away from the hall.

But the demolition went ahead, as the council’s planning committee did not have the power to prevent an application to knock down a non-listed building from its owners. The plan is to build supported accommodation bungalows on the site, but no work has yet started.

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