More than a dozen new houses could be set to be built close to a major development in Bolton.
If approved the project will see 14 houses built on land off Dixon Street in Westhoughton, not far from where the new Wingates industrial estate expansion will be taking place.
They will be built by development company Hollins Homes, which claims all of the new houses will be ‘high quality family’ homes with a range of up to two and a half that will help address the need for housing across Bolton.
A statement from the company said: “As the Council cannot demonstrate a five year housing land supply, the tilted planning balance applies, meaning that planning permission should be granted unless any adverse impacts would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the framework taken as a whole.”
This comes after approval was granted by the government for a huge new industrial estate development at Wingates, close to where the new houses have been proposed.
Developers won approval to develop the Wingates site into a major manufacturing and logistics hub last year, which they claim could create up to 1,500 new jobs in the area.
Many of the people working at these new jobs will need housing in the area, which the new outline application seeks to address.
The potential houses off Dixon Street will be within walking distance of the Wingates site, which planners say will prove helpful to people working at the new site.
But opponents have expressed concern about the impact on greentbelt land and on the growing congestion and pressure on infrastructure around Westhoughton.
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Traffic has been a particular concern in the roads around the area, which are also likely to be impacted by the Wingates project.
The plans are still only at the outline stage, meaning that they are still rough guides to what the finished project will be made up of and may yet be subject to changes.
The plans will be open for neighbourhood consultations until November 16 after which Bolton Council will decide whether or not to improve the plans.
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