SPECULATION is mounting that ANOTHER "super estate" is being planned in Westhoughton.

Fears are growing that more than 1,000 homes could be built on the Bowlands Hey site, off Wigan Road.

It would be only a mile or so from Lee Hall where a planning application is already in for 1,100 homes.

A campaign has been launched to fight the Lee Hall proposals and more than 150 people were at a public meeting this week. The application is due before Bolton councillors on April 22.

No planning application has been submitted to Bolton Council for Bowlands Hey.

The BEN has been trying for three days to speak to developers Bellway but has been told that no-one is available to comment.

But Liberal Democrats in Westhoughton are sending a newsletter to local homes with the headline "Save Our Fields." It says: "The fight grows to save the area of Westhoughton known as Bowlands Hey from the threat of over 1,000 houses.

Bellway had planned to build the massive estate earlier in this decade.

An entrance road has already been built at the junction of Wigan Road and Cricketers Way and some houses were built.

But the Secretary of State turned down the application for the full estate after a public inquiry.

He said that Bowlands Hey could not be built on until Bolton's five year supply of housing land had been exhausted.

Westhoughton Liberal Democrat Cllr David Wilkinson said: "I believe something is happening at Bowlands Hey.

"With the Lee Hall planning application in, I don't believe that Bellway wants to be at the back of the queue in terms of the housing supply available in Westhoughton.

"There have been a number of developments which make me think an application is imminent.

"I have been told from a source in local government circles that preliminary steps are being taken before an application has been put in.

"Planning permission was given after a public inquiry for 20 houses to be built on the Firwood Building Supplies site on Wigan Road which is at the entrance to the top end of Bowlands Hey.

"I also understand that people have been seen taking soil samples from Bowlands Hey. "And I have been told that land in the area has been sold to the developer.

"We will fight this all the way. Heaven help us if Bowlands Hey and Lee Hall go ahead. We are under seige in Westhoughton."

Mr Howard Barritt, Bolton's head of planning control said that a planning applciation had not been submitted for Bowlands Hey.

But he added: "It wouldn't surprise me in view of the fact that the Lee Hall application is in."

Meanwhile, a war of words has already started with the Liberal Democrats' newsletter sparking fury from Bolton's Labour councillors.

It says that by Bolton Council asking for a road junction to be built on the Firwood building supplies site, it would allow traffic to reach Bowlands Hey.

But Cllr John Byrne, vice chairman of Bolton's planning and environment committee, said: "We have fought against housing plans for Bowlands Hey twice and it is unfair to suggest otherwise. We have always been against it. This leaflet gives the impression we want a massive housing estate there." Cllr Wilkinson said: "I put things straight and if people don't like it then that's tough. I deal in the facts and I'm not afraid to let people know those facts."

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