The Rivington Chase development of the Horwich Loco Works has been given the go ahead by Bolton Council planning committee. The Labour members voted unanimously in support and the opposition had a mix of for, against and abstentions.
Labour MP, Julie Hilling said “I am disappointed that the report specifies no sporting facilities” but did not cite any other objections to the scheme.
Having read up on the development, attended the Bolton Council planning meeting and listened to concerns of local residents, Chris Green says “There are many unanswered questions about the proposed development on education, health and sporting facilities as well as transport infrastructure and how the contaminated land will be dealt with”.
- There are plans for 1,700 family houses but no plans even for a single primary school whilst the Ladybridge estate has 1,100 houses and three primary schools. This will cause traffic chaos during the school run and be dangerous for children crossing busy roads.Money is set aside for health facilities but we don’t know where and when they will be built.
- How many hundreds of houses will be built before a school or health centre is?
- Horwich has already seen the loss of good quality playing fields and more need to be provided whether or not the development goes ahead.
- Traffic congestion can sometimes be horrendous in and around Horwich and there are plans to alleviate some of the pressure but it doesn’t look like it will be enough. There will be a through road on the development but a senior Labour councillor suggested that it be blocked half way down to prevent it turning into a ‘rat run’. She doesn’t realise that blocking the road in the development it will force all of the traffic onto Chorley New Road.
- Substantial contamination built up over the decades at the Loco Works but we don’t yet know the extent of the contamination and if the contaminated land will be dealt with on site or transported off site.
There are bigger questions on the Rivington Chase development than sporting facilities and we need more clarity on all the points highlighted because this is about the people of Horwich and the quality of their lives over the fifteen years of building and beyond.