RESIDENTS and housing developers are squaring up for a battle over the future of land in Westhoughton.

A local inquiry into Bolton's proposed Unitary Development Plan (UDP) opened yesterday at Bolton Town Hall.

Bolton Council is proposing to protect existing Green Belt land from development for at least another 10 years.

In the current UDP the controversial sites at Bowlands Hey and Lee Hall are allocated for development.

Bowlands Hey was earmarked for housing and Lee Hall for employment and housing in the longer term.

But under the proposed new UDP the council wants to remove the allocations.

Bolton Council officials believe there is no need for large greenfield sites to be developed in the borough, preferring instead to encourage developers to use more brownfield land.

It estimates that between 1996 and 2011 up to 8,201 new homes will need to be built in the borough, most of which can go up on previously used land.

The House Builders' Federation and developers hotly contest the figure and object to the reduction in the amount of greenfield land which will be available for building.

Tomorrow members of the Save Westhoughton Act Now (SWAN) campaign group will present their arguments supporting the council's proposals to public inquiry inspector Peter Davies.

And in January the House Builders' Federation and several large developers will make their case.

The public inquiry into the proposed UDP is due to be completed in March and the inspector's report will be given to the council later in the year.