A DECISION is due on Thursday on plans for 500 homes which will form the major part of a huge new estate.

Bolton Council's planning committee will give its verdict on long-standing plans to build on land in the Chew Moor area of Westhoughton.

It will make its decision at a time when environment campaigners are warning that Bolton is turning into a "concrete jungle".

The developers behind the plans are Barratt Manchester, which wants to build 377 homes on the former Carnaud Metalbox factory site, and George Wimpey North-West Ltd, which has submitted plans for 117 houses and flats on a neighbouring warehouse site.

A third developer, Bett Homes, plans 56 homes on a smaller site to the north of the two larger plots and these will be discussed later this month.

The three developers have offered about £1.5 million towards much-needed improvements at schools and open spaces in the Westhoughton area if they are allowed to build on the sites.

But councillors on the committee risk the wrath of environmentalists if they approve the plans.

"Enough is enough," said David Chadwick, chairman of Save Westhoughton Act Now, on the eve of the crunch meeting where his group's supporters are expected to turn up in droves.

"The consequences if all these new families move into town don't bear thinking about.

"We've still got broadly the same infrastructure that we had 100 years ago and the roads, schools and doctors' surgeries can't cope.

"Unless the planning committee puts the brake on overdevelopment, we will end up with a concrete jungle stretching from one side of the borough to the other."

Residents fear Westhoughton could grind to a halt if more houses are built. Westhoughton Town Council has also recommended that the scheme is rejected because of fears of traffic congestion.