WHEN Sir Geoffrey Hulton, who had a reputation as a benefactor in the local community and was often affectionately referred to as "Squire Hulton", died recently, his estate was divided between two relatives. An application has now been received to develop the area of land known as "Lee Hall" in Westhoughton.

The area is approximately of 160+ acres, bounded by Park Road to the north, Hall Lee Bank Park to the west, the Wigan railway line to the south, and

Chequerbent roundabout to the east.

It is one of the few areas of truly old-fashioned countryside left in Westhoughton. A large tract of open fields which have not been intensively farmed comprising fields with hedgerows, a multitudeof flora and fauna, and several ponds containing amphibians including Great Crested Newts, and it is a nocturnal habitat for bats from nearby woods and barns, both of whom have statutory protection!

The plan is for 1100 homes on 108 acres, and a high tech business park on 50 acres of the land. The carrot or sop is the commitment to build the first leg of a bypass, BUT, and it is a big BUT, with no prospect of the agreement of Wigan to construct the other half.

It is nothing other than a colossal white elephant. It will be there to serve the development and for no other purpose!

What does this mean to people of Westhoughton? Potentially hell on earth. - loss of open space, recreational amenity, extra noise, extra pollution, and serious inconvenience.

It has been suggested by the applicant that only an extra 800 vehicles will be the net increase in traffic, based on current census figures for Westhoughton. Who is kidding who?

Presumably, there will be no social housing, only up-market housing! Any fool knows that this brings with it higher volumes of vehicles. It will probably be nearer the 2000+ mark

Extra public transport is promised, funded for the first five years to and from the development! With public transport moving towards a monopoly, with First Bus's recent acquisition of Timeline, what are the guarantees for the future?

There is no provision for an extra primary school on the development. So, come 8.30am on any weekday, there will a stream of cars with mothers taking their offsprings to St Thomas's Parochial School, or Washacre, by car. Only the latter school is currently under-subscribed with pupils.

Interestingly, the current infrastructure i.e. all the existing roads were in place around at the turn of the century - Park Road, Leigh Road, Wigan Road, Market Street and Bolton Road. They are therefore 90 to 100 years old!

The only addition to the infrastructure is Cricketers Way, and this has been talked about for 61 years, since 1937, when residents of Mill Street were first notified. We cannot continue to allow more and more developments of this nature.

Look at the thousands of homes built in the last 30 years or so - Starr Homes, The Hoskers, Rivermead, Roland Bardsley, Wilcon and, most recently, Redrows proposed development of Edges Farm, all with no extra roads other than those which are 90 to 100 years old. It's an impossible situation. There should be no more, under any circumstances! Once again the people of Westhoughton are the poor relations in this game! There is no substitute for open spaces. Even the Victorians created open spaces as the lungs of the community.

The only people who should have a say in whether this proceeds or not are the very people it affects! Any decision should be up to the people of Westhoughton.

The UDP may have this for development, but with current and projected traffic flows on Park Road, where pedestrians make detours to avoid it! Or take risks to cross it!

Chequerbent roundabout has its own regular daily position on traffic bulletins on GMR, Red Rose, Galaxy and Key 103 radio stations.

The plan is out of date, needs reassessing, and we should impose an immediate 15-year Moratorium on it! NOW!

When the applicant has made his fortune, he will be off to the leafy lanes of the South, and we will be left to choke and fume. What is the price of the quality of life!

The message, loud, clear and unequivocally, should be - NO, NO, NO!

Cllr D A Chadwick

Dale Lee, Westhoughton

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