Wigan MPs urge council to reject plans for 1,500 new homes in Leigh
Detailed plans have been submitted for a new community of 1,491 homes and a section of trunk road at North Leigh Park.
Two Wigan MPs have urged the council to reject plans for almost 1,500 new homes in Leigh.
Detailed plans have been submitted for a new community of 1,491 homes and a section of trunk road at North Leigh Park.
In a letter to Wigan council’s planning team, both Makerfield MP Josh Simons and Jo Platt who represents Leigh, said they thought the plans were not suitable.
In the joint letter they said they ‘will not support a single new house without the right community infrastructure first’.
They said that homes should not be built before delivering an eat to west link road in full, from the M6 to the M61, via Hindley Green, North Leigh, and onto Bolton.
Last month, the government committed £153m to build part of a link road between Wigan and Bolton.
The route, to connect the A49 in Wigan to the A58 in Hindley is due to start by March 2029 at the latest.
The MPs said that section of the link road ‘does not depend on a single house being built or a penny from developers’.
Mr Simons’ letter said: “Alongside my colleague Jo Platt MP, I write to express my objection to the planning application in relation to the North Leigh Park development.
“Levels of congestion in this borough are unacceptable.
“But traffic is not simply an inconvenience, it holds back local businesses, ambulance and police officers, trades, school children, and families.
“We need clear assurances about the remaining sections of the road.
“This submission does not appear to include an infrastructure phasing plan or an integrated transport and access plan.
“I cannot support any development without such a plan and will not support this proposal in its current form.”
Outline permission for up to 1,700 homes at North Leigh was approved in 2013 but a new planning application currently being considered by Wigan council gives details of the layout, appearance, landscaping and scale of the majority of the proposed development.
Two parts of the wider site have previously been developed. The first is close to Nel Pan Lane where 87 homes were created on either side of the new estate road by Countryside Properties in 2021.
The second is a development of 99 homes on the northern edge of the site which is accessed from Tiverton Avenue. That phase was brought forward by Bellway Homes.
A design and access statement has been published on the council’s planning portal on behalf of developer Vistry Group.
The report said: “The vision for North Leigh Park is to deliver a sustainable, well-connected and attractive new development for Wigan.
“It will deliver part of the new strategically significant highway infrastructure required to connect junction 5 of M61 with junction 26 of the M6.”
North Leigh Park is 2.6km to the north-west of Leigh town centre. Westleigh High School to the south-east of the site.
It is to the east of the A578 (Leigh Road) and covers a huge 178-acres.
The site has an industrial past used for coal mining, sand extraction quarrying, industrial waste management operations, a scrap yard and a sewage treatment.
The new section of road within the North Leigh plans, would connect Leigh Road (A578) to Atherleigh Way (A579).
Speaking in January, Matthew Parkes, managing director, Vistry Manchester and Cheshire East, said: “We are pleased to be bringing forward the next phases of North Leigh Park and continuing to work with Wigan Council, the Government and the local community to deliver much-needed new homes
in this part of the borough.
“This is a significant opportunity to prevent a complex former industrial site becoming a long-term environmental problem and instead turn it into a
well-planned new neighbourhood, with new homes, green spaces, local facilities and improved connections.”
The council will decide on the plans in the coming months.