RESIDENTS have voiced concern over plans to build 277 houses at Bolton Sports Village in Horwich.

They claim that the plans leave many questions unanswered and they put their fears to Horwich Town Planning Committee.

Some of their views were shared by Bolton planning officers and town councillors, who deferred the application by Jones Homes until more detailed plans are received.

Planning officer Wendy Fox said that the plans do not show any adjacent development and it was difficult to judge the application against existing properties. She said the developers had been asked to submit additional details.

A resident from Hollowell Lane said the plans did not show anything outside the development area. But he suspected that houses to be built closest to his home were not within the minimum distance for privacy and there was no indication of elevations of the site. "It is difficult to estimate what impact the development will have," he said.

He asked that if the application was approved, planners make it a condition that fencing should be put up at the start of the development so residents could be protected, as work was likely to take some time.

Mr Colin Merrick, of Sefton Lane, and fellow residents said they were concerned about access to the whole development, and wanted a footpath leading from Sefton Lane to be closed.

"The path appears to be the only pedestrian access available from the Horwich side of the development and we feel, particularly on match days, that the level of use would be totally unacceptable," said Mr Merrick. He feared this would lead to problems with litter, noise and vandalism.

Another resident said she was worried about the number of houses planned and the number of cars that would spill out onto Chorley New Road.

Cllr Jeremy Lavin, whose own home at Sefton Lane backs on to the development, said the estate swallowed half of the land which had been designated as an office park under the original zoning.

He said: "About 80 of the new houses, namely a third, are on the site of what we were given to understand is an office park."

He said it may be that some of the offices may have been resited but wanted reassurances that the number of jobs promised would not be curtailed. He said that since the public inquiry there were at least two areas in the development which were not in the orginal plan, and the application included a finger of land going towards Knowsley Grove, which also appeared to be a recent acquisition.

He added that it led to an area of open space and it may be nothing more than a pedestrian access. But he was concerned that people might try and press for vehicular access to Chorley New Road which was turned down by the planning inspector.

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