Plan for new houses off Tarbet Drive, Breightmet refused

The plan had hoped to win outline approval to build the new houses on a site of Tarbet Drive in Breightmet close to an electricity sub-station.

But concerns had been raised about access points to the site and the scheme was debated at Bolton Town Hall this week after a string of complaints from people living nearby.

Cllr Sean Fielding, of Breightmet, said: “The officers report describes these arrangements as ‘tight but workable’ and so I believe the case with regard to access is, at best, marginal.”

He said that having visited the site he had seen several other houses with rear windows directly overlooking where the new ones would be.

The plans have now been refused (Image: Cestria Partnership)

Cllr Fielding said this meant that even if approval was given in principle to build the house, he did not believe there would ever be “an acceptable configuration” for the details for them.

He said: “In this scenario, approval of the development of the site today would therefore only be as a consequence of the policy failure of Bolton Council.

“The residents of Tarbet Drive should not be expected to pay the price for this.”

A total of 15 letters of object had been sent in about the plans, with issues ranging from lack of access to the loss of light to the effects on wildlife.

The land off Tarbet Drive in Breightmet (Image: Public)

Cllr Adele Warren, also of Breightmet, said that she was also concerned about the “extremely tight access points” and about access to services and sewage in the area.

She said that people had raised concerns about lorries passing through the area as part of the building process on the four homes, if permission was granted to further plans.

Cllr Warren called on Bolton Council’s planning committee to reject the plans.

Architect Andrew Ratcliff, speaking in support of the plan, said that the land was private not public.

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He said: “It has been accessed by members of the public indeed for a quite a number of years, not all of which has been publicly desirable.”

Mr Ratcliff said that bottles and cans had often been left on the land and said that it would not be necessary to use heavy goods vehicles for the eventual construction.

He also argued that the people living in the new houses would “share the priorities” of privacy and safety with their new neighbours.

But the committee members voted unanimously to refuse the plan.