Open letter to John Whittaker, Peel Holdings

We are councillors for the Hulton and Westhoughton communities which will be most directly affected by your plans to build 1,000 houses and a golf course in Hulton Park.

In light of the Secretary of State’s decision to call in your application for a public inquiry, we invite you to withdraw your application.

At the planning committee meeting, your representatives confirmed that you would not appeal a decision to refuse the application.

We call on you now to honour the spirit of that pledge.

Your application hinged on the possibility of the site being awarded the Ryder Cup; which we now all know will not be possible because the public inquiry will delay any building work for too long to make the Hulton Park site eligible for the cup.

We urge you to save our local communities the anguish of further deliberations and, by holding true to the planning conditions and principles agreed at the planning committee meeting, to restore the greenbelt land in your care back to the condition it was in prior to any preparatory works your agents may have undertaken.

We urge you to begin a process of further engagement with our local communities about the future of the site in question; and recognise the deep historical significance of the land in your care. We hope you will engage with the locally constituted neighbourhood forums in developing a plan for the future that everyone can be proud of.

Yours Sincerely,

Cllr Toby Hewitt

Cllr Zoe Kirk-Robinson

Cllr Christine Wild

Cllr Diane Parkinson

Cllr Martyn Cox