Westhoughton is the fastest growing town in the district, but I believe the building should now stop before all the grassland in the area disappears forever.

The town centre has been in decline for many years, yet smaller towns - Hindley, Atherton, Leigh and Tyldesley - are supporting a good cross section of small businesses.

Once the open cast mining had finished off Leigh Road we were promised the site would be landscaped. The land has been deserted for months with nothing being done. Could the mining company involved be awaiting a decision on the Super Estate? There is already a growing traffic problem on Leigh Road that will be made worse by the Gills Farm development. It would become impossible with this monster of an estate.

If the development were to go ahead on the church fields maybe the planners should consider also the merits for building on the roundabout at Chequerbent as this would be one of the few pieces of land left in the area.

I do hope that commonsense prevails and that any future possible projects are turned down. We don't need any more houses in Westhoughton

Steve Martin

Leigh Road, Westhoughton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.