Controversial 236 home farmland development could be given permission

Councillors look poised to give the go-ahead for the development of 236 homes on agricultural land in the Lowton area of Wigan. Members of Wigan’s planning committee will discuss the Morris Homes application for land adjacent to Pocket Nook Farm on Tuesday (March 12).

After the Wigan council agreed for the land to be included in the soon-to-be ratified Places for Everyone strategic development plan for Greater Manchester, refusal is unlikely. The detailed plan now includes the demolition of the Pocket Nook Farm buildings, the construction of the homes with associating parking, landscaping, drainage systems, and vehicle access from the A579 Atherleigh Way.

If approved, Morris Homes will contribute more than £1.5m towards the Golborne and Lowton Infrastructure Plan in an arrangement known as a Section 106 agreement. It will also chip in £2,500 for the management and evaluation of a travel plan.

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Some 25 per cent of the houses must also be affordable. Included in the plan is a new road junction and ‘spine road’ designed to accommodate bus services in the future.

The application site is east of the recently cancelled HS2 line, and although a railway station is not part of the plan, the development is ‘not considered to prohibit’ such a facility from coming forward in the future. Meanwhile, a total of 63 objections to the plan were made after the plan was publicised, including from Leigh Conservative MP James Grundy, and local councillors Kevin Anderson and Kath Houlton.

They say the development will have an adverse impact on the already ‘over-developed community of Lowton’. Another argument is that the houses are not needed and that the