Traffic fears if £150m scheme gets go ahead

John Thornber says the heavy good vehicles travelling to and from Florida Farm North, in Haydock, will have an impact on the M6 motorway and the borough.

His comments come as a report prepared for Wigan Council’s planning committee meeting tomorrow described the effect as “negligible”.

It recommends councillors do not object to the planning application, which will be decided by St Helens Council’s planning committee.

Mr Thornber, chairman of Save Our Green Belt and a member of Residents Against Florida Farm Development, said: “If this happens it’s going to have a horrendous effect in Ashton-in-Makerfield. It’s bad there now with the traffic going through it and this is going to have a terrible effect on the whole area, with the impact of so many more heavy goods vehicles.”

The application seeks permission to erect two commercial buildings on the site on Slag Lane and a new access road to the A580 East Lancashire Road.

It is 800m from the borough’s boundary at Golborne and 1.3km from the boundary at Ashton near junction 24 of the M6, so the impact of the scheme will be considered by Wigan Council’s planning committee.

A report prepared for the meeting states the council’s traffic section and Highways England have not raised objections to the proposal.

It also says that while “any likely impact” on Wigan will be via the A580, most traffic will be to the west of junction 23 of the M6.

The report states: “Consequently, the majority of the traffic impact will be within St Helens borough, with minimal influence on traffic flows in Wigan.”

More than 1,700 letters of objection have been received by St Helens Council.