VICTORIOUS Red Moss campaigners have begun a new battle - to turn the wildlife haven into a tourist attraction

As reported in later editions of the BEN yesterday, UK Waste have announced that they will not be appealing against Bolton Council's refusal of a plan to dump rubbish on Red Moss near Horwich.

The waste disposal giants had planned to develop the site in partnership with Bolton Council which would have generated cash for local authority coffers.

UK Waste had until yesterday to lodge an appeal against a decision by Bolton's Planning Committee to refuse the plan, but said they had abandoned the scheme. A spokesman for Red Moss Action Group, John Acton is now calling for full support to develop the Moss into a nature reserve which would attract tourists. He said: "It is obviously great news. We have been holding our breath until now and it now appears to be all over.

"Hopefully we can get things moving and develop it as a wildlife site which will attract people."

Liberal Democrat Leader and Bolton West parliamentary candidate Barbara Ronson agreed.

She told the Evening News: "What Horwich needs to do is to throw the same weight behind restoring and developing Red Moss as the fight against the tip.

"I am delighted and I think we have to give credit to all the community groups involved in this fight and investment is needed to clean the area up."

Conservative candidate, Tom Sackville also expressed his delight.

He said: "It is a vindication of all the efforts of the thousands of people in Horwich and elsewhere who have made their feelings about the Red Moss proposals plain to Bolton's Labour Council." Labour candidate Ruth Kelly commented: "Now that the threat of tipping has disappeared, we can start looking to the future and examining ways of establishing a nature reserve on the Moss.

"Bolton Council has listened to the concerns of the people of Horwich and now, thankfully, so have UK Waste."

Bolton Friends of the Earth campaigner Dennis Watson also expressed his delight.

Speaking on behalf Greater Manchester's Waste Network, he said: "This decision is a victory for local democracy and the environment.

"It will give heart to campaigners everywhere who are fighting environmentally destructive proposals.

"We now call upon Bolton Council to remove the Red Moss designation as a strategic waste disposal site from the council's Unitary Development Plan and finally put this issue to rest." Red Moss was originally earmarked as the answer to Greater Manchester's tip shortage in 1980.

The old tip, run by Greater Manchester Waste, was closed after Bolton Council had included the Moss in its planning blueprint as a strategic waste disposal site.

The Council put forward plans to run a new supertip in partnership with UK Waste which would generate cash for the authority but the Moss was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest by English Nature.

The campaign to save the moss involved residents, pressure groups and politicians from all parties.

Friends of the Earth made the issue a national cause celebre, including the Moss in its Magnificent Seven sites of top ecological importance with the prospect of direct action similar to that of roads protests a possibility if development went ahead. The first major blow for the plans came in May 1995 when Environment Secretary John Gummer intervened to call for protection of the SSSI.

And after councillors in Horwich and Blackrod declared their opposition to the plan, the Council's Planning Committee finally decided to dump the scheme, giving UK Waste until Thursday to decide whether it would appeal.

In September last year, the BEN revealed that Wessex Water, which jointly owns UK Waste, was calling for a review of the proposals and yesterday waste giants announced they would not be appealing against the Council's refusal.

But Dr Varey pointed out that the company may well turn its attention again to part of the site not protected by the SSSI.

Cllr Bob Howarth, who as Leader of Bolton Council had publicly backed the tip plan, said: "The Planning Committee made an independent decision.

"The good news is there will be no tipping but the bad news is that we won't get the money which we need."

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