Village call to fight against more homes

That was the message from the Standish Labour Party as it urged residents to attend a new consultation into a controversial housing scheme and take the opportunity to register a further protest.

The Government’s Housing and Communities Agency (HCA) has struck a deal with Bradley Trading Estate owner, Manchester-based HIMOR Group, to buy part of the industrial estate on its north eastern edge.

The land and units bordering Bradley Lane already has outline planning permission for 148 houses.

But the HCA and developers BDP are now proposing increasing the size of the scheme by a further 15 homes.

This will be accomplished by exploiting land formerly occupied by multi-award-winning Prospect Brewery which relocated to Lower Wallgate after being given notice to quit because its lease on the former Heinz steam pudding building wouldn’t be renewed.

The site would be accessed via the existing trading estate entrance in Bradley Lane.

The HCA has stipulated that a quarter of the new homes must be classed as “affordable”.

There would also be new public open space, a play area, footpaths and cycleways and the “retention and enhancement” of existing wildlife habitats.

The “public exhibition,” as the HCA terms it, will be held in the village’s Unity Club in Cross Street on Tuesday September 5 between 4pm and 7pm.

Now Standish Labour branch secretary Debbie Parkinson is urging householders to attend the consultation, study the scheme...and then object.

But she fears it may already prove “too little, too late” to affect the proposals.

She claimed the Government was now “taking the mickey in Standish” with its appointed inspector overturning decisions by Wigan Council to control housing development in the village and “buying land themselves to build on.”

She said: “The Conservative Housing and Communities Agency now own part of Bradley Trading Estate allocated for yet more housing and are pushing for even more houses on it.

“In my opinion outline planning should never have been given for houses on this site which employs many workers.

“Half the site has already been demolished and we have lost units including the Bradley Garden Centre to accomodate these houses and now they want to demolish more units for even more housing.

“They say at present it will be 15 more but this will now mean 163 houses on the site to date and 320 cars.

“The single track road under the West Coast Main Line railway bridge - and both Bradley Lane and Avondale Street, with St Marie’s RC Primary School on it - simply can’t cope with more traffic.

“Taking away industrial units on Bradley Lane means a loss of employment in Standish, leaving little left.

“How long before they want to remove the rest of the units?

“Residents are being given the chance to look at the plans next month but that is too little too late.

“But I urge them to object when the application is made.”

A spokesman for the Government’s HCA said that as part of the planning application, the HCA “is keen to advise” residents and businesses about the bid, through a “public exhibition.”

She said: “The exhibition will allow interested parties to view proposals for the development of the site and more importantly, it will allow the application and consultant team to seek feedback from local residents so that we can work with the resident and business community to create a scheme that meets local aspirations.”

Housing is the biggest issue affecting Standish at the moment.

Only earlier this month community group Standish Voice, which is currently working towards a Neighbourhood Plan for the village, was outraged to learn that another hotly contested development has been approved on appeal for land off Rectory Lane.

The latest approval will bring the total of houses planned on greenfield land up to 1,600.

One group member said: said: “The nature of this village is being destroyed by this relentless tide of housebuilding applications.”