Wigan residents demand plan to demolish old house and build six new ones is rejected

Most of the details of the application are not being considered by town hall planners at this stage.

However, neighbour and businessman Adrian Griffin is leading local attempts to get the development stopped in its tracks.

He has raised concerns about the impact on wildlife of the construction work and suggests the house-building will clash with the contents of a tree preservation order for the area.

A ward councillor is also against the scheme, saying it is too big and too damaging in it impact.

A report prepared for the planning department to accompany the outline planning application, on the other hand, suggests there are no reasons why outline consent should not be granted.

Mr Griffin, who is the entrepreneur behind the Ninja Warrior attraction on Stadium Way, said: “It seems completely wrong to me that the council could even consider letting this go through.

“It should be rejected straight away. This will totally change the aspect of the area if it is approved.

“I’ve not got a problem with building houses but not like this and not here. You could build two or three houses on the site without touching the trees but the application doesn’t go for that.

“The land is home to many wild animals. I’ve got pictures of deer and there are hedgehogs, badgers, bats and so much that people probably don’t even realise is there.”

“It hasn’t been touched for so long, it’s like a haven for wildlife.”

The report describes the plot, which is made up of an old house and around 0.9 hectares of land, as “white land” which has no specific designations in the borough’s local plan.

The report says the site has become somewhat overgrown and some trees which are in poor condition will be removed.

However, it says that overall the woodland setting will be enhanced with new trees being planted to compensate for those lost.

Measures to help bats should also be included in the development, the document says.

The report concludes: “The site represents a suitable infill plot for residential development, which avoids any designated policy constraint from the Wigan Local Plan.

“The site itself is not allocated for residential development but under the main principles of contributing towards Wigan housing numbers, the site represents an area of land that can be sustainably developed with minimal negative impact to the environment.

“There are no material reasons why this scheme should not receive an outline planning consent.”

Mr Griffin has started a petition for residents opposed to the development to sign and has been drumming up support for his position on local Facebook groups.

People living in the area are being contacted and informed about the planning application and more than a dozen comments have already been left on the council’s planning portal.

Wigan Central ward representative Coun Lol Hunt has also criticised the proposal.

He said: “I would be looking to oppose this and support the residents. Although it is in private hands this land is effectively part of the plantations and there is so much wildlife there. I’m also against any removal of tree preservation orders.

"We’ve got these green spaces and woodlands and we’ve got to try to retain them.

"If it was on a smaller scale I would have to look at that but at the moment we would lose far too much with this.”

Consultations end in the first week of August. To find out more search on Wigan Council’s planning website for application A/20/89393/OUT