The bizarre reason for delays to a Greater Manchester housing development

Developers have been granted permission to create a new access route to a 119-home estate in Wigan after NEWTS delayed construction. The site was originally approved back in 2021 - with access via Rectory Lane - but surfacing of the new road will not happen until a later date as Natural England conducts works to protect the salamanders.

Due to enormous declines in range and abundance in the last century, the great crested newt is strictly protected by British and European law, which is why this delay was required. Applicants Wain Homes wants to let residents of 22 homes, soon to be completed, access their properties via a neighbouring housing estate named Broadfern.

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Grasslands, the street at the back of the Broadfern estate currently used by construction workers, has been picked to provide temporary access for new residents, Wigan Town Hall heard.

Once development of the Rectory Lane access route is finished, the houses will be accessible for residents via Rectory Lane as originally planned, the planning committee was told. But locals of the Broadfern estate say they have suffered with construction vehicles dirtying up their roads for too long and wanted this new plan kicked into the long grass.

Dozens of objectors claimed it would be dangerous to have added vehicles on the estate. Despite this, the committee believed it would be more dangerous for new residents to have to use an access route that is only suitable for construction vehicles.

Coun John Harding said: “It seems common sense to