HOW is it that a plan to put 141 dwellings, the size of a new village, largely in Listed Buildings, bang in the middle of a Conservation Area in the West Pennine Moors, in A large area of Urban Open Space and in a Green Belt has attracted so little public attention?
The quotes are how the Old Bleach Works site in Horwich is described in the current Bolton Unitary Development Plan-East on display in the Town Hall.
Is it that councillors decided long ago to accept such a plan? The Unitary Development Plan is undergoing a process of review and the summer 2000 Review Version, which will go to a Public Local Enquiry in the autumn, is trying to change the site description to one suited for housing allocation.
Is it that the public has been given no information, until Jane Bullock's article in Monday's Evening News ('Councillors back plans for new flats'), since summer 2000, when incomplete plans were submitted in support of the original Planning Applications?
Is it a coincidence that the only recently posted notices inviting public comment by 16 May on rights of way, the character of a Conservation Area & Change of Use are currently only posted on a 30mph speed limit post on Chorley Old Road, Horwich, well away from the site itself, or likely public notice?
Or is it once again just down to lots of money? This huge development would mean that 250 or so commuting cars will use a single access road onto a part of Chorley Old Road, where speeding is common.
The proposals would not preserve the industrial heritage or the decaying buildings, but will turn the site into a large, posh housing complex, which would greatly affect the character of this wild and sparsely populated conservation area. Surely the people of Horwich have the right to be better informed and more involved in a decision on a development of this magnitude and sensitivity.
Geoff Tindle
Chorley Old Road, Horwich
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