Plan for new homes on site of historic building

The Newton Road building dates back to the late 1800s and was previously a grand home and more recently used by Wigan Council for its adoption services.

The plan is to bulldoze it and put up a mixture of detached and semi-detached houses along with a small three-storey apartment block.

It is not the first time a development proposal for the site has been submitted to the council, with the original redevelopment design containing 28 homes.

Following discussions with the council that has now been whittled down to 19 houses and six apartments.

The original plan generated considerable local opposition, with almost 800 people signing a petition demanding the local authority save the building.

And there remain objections to the plans to bulldoze Oaklands, with a dozen complaints being sent in about the latest application.

Objectors are unhappy about demolishing a building with such a long history and going against a covenant on the site which restricts its use to children’s services.

There are also complaints about loss of trees and green space, excessive house-building levels in Lowton and increased traffic and pressure on local infrastructure.

However, planning officers have recommended the committee approves the application, subject to a list of conditions.

The report says the developer should enter into a Section 106 agreement to contribute to affordable commuter housing elsewhere and lay out its financial position to the council before the bulldozers go on site to ensure Oaklands is not flattened and then nothing is built to replace it.

The houses will have private gardens and two parking spaces, while the apartments will have seven spaces for residents and four for visitors. There would also be a patch of public space in the south-east corner of the site.

The council’s conservation officer also states in the report that there would inevitably be a loss to the area by bulldozing Oaklands, which is more than 130 years old and of high-quality design.

However, he also admits that the building is only of local importance.

The petition to save the building, which has been empty since December 2016, was backed by the Lowton East Neighbourhood Development Forum.

The report for councillors on the planning application concludes: “The proposal would deliver 25 homes, along with contributions to off-site affordable housing, resulting in a high-quality residential development within a sustainable location and make a contribution to short term housing need in the borough, without affecting the existing amenity currently enjoyed by neighbouring properties.”