Plans for 1,100 houses at Mosley Common took a blow after objectors successfully beat back the proposals. Councillor Stuart Gerrard, who urged Wigan Council to reconsider their approval decision, was backed in his bid to see the plans undergo further scrutiny.
The Confident Places Scrutiny Committee decided to send the ‘masterplan’ - which hoped to see a new community built on the border of Wigan and Salford - back to the cabinet. This means that the ‘masterplan’ put forward by developers Peel L&P will have to be reviewed once again to address points raised by the committee.
Coun Gerrard stated that overburdened roads, lack of access to healthcare providers and schools, poor transport facilities, lack of consultation and loss of green belt land were the primary sources of concern for residents.
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“Peel have a track record of peeling back the green belt, and that is why I think they are called Peel,” he told Wigan Town Hall council chamber. “This area just cannot cope.
“There are going to be many going out of the area for school. There is nothing for secondary schools in the plan.
“They say that will be in the planning stage but we need this to be in the plan now so that the money is there to invest into our secondary schools straight away.”
The councillor went on to mention how residents are struggling to get places with GP surgeries and dentists as the waiting lists continue to grow. The position that the majority of the councillors took was to wait for the ‘masterplan’ to be looked at by the independent inspectors in central government as part of the Places for Everyone scheme - a strategy setting out where 165,000 homes will be built across Greater Manchester.
This would mean a delay to Mosley Common until PFE is decided for the developers, who broke ground on this project back in 2016. Residents like Andy Brown, who spoke at the committee meeting, say they don’t want to see the place they live suffer as a result of more housing.
He told the committee a number of stories from residents who have had to quit their jobs due to not being able to get to work on time, sick people who have been waiting months for doctors appointments, and some who cannot balance dropping off their children at school and getting to work because of traffic.
“This is not just any green belt land, this is M&S green belt land,” Andy quipped during his speech, referring to this land being amongst the last in the area. He went on to highlight that Wigan Council’s own figures suggest that the demand for housing is not high in the area and it is already at 137 per cent of the demand.
But councillor Paul Prescott, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Transportation and Environmental Services at the council, said he was in support of the plan.
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He said: “The masterplan is considered to directly reflect the North of Mosley Common site allocation policy set in the emerging Places for Everyone Plan, as approved by council in July 2021, and will play an important role in guiding future planning applications on the site to help deliver its effective and sustainable development.
"In particular, it will support a development that delivers up to 1,100 homes of an appropriate mix of type, size and tenure to meet local needs, a new stop and increased passenger capacity on the guided busway, and new primary school provision to address the level of additional demand generated.
"An alternative option is not to approve the masterplan. However, the development of the masterplan has been steered by a joint team of council officers from multiple disciplines, along with Peel and their consultancy team.
"As stated above, it is considered to directly reflect the site allocation policy in the emerging Places for Everyone Plan and will play an important role in guiding future planning applications on the site to help deliver its effective and sustainable development. Not approving the masterplan will remove this level of guidance to inform the site’s effective future development.”
Peel’s masterplan shares a vision of a new community and travel hub that would include shops and spaces for events and classes. A network of footpaths, cycleways would improve access to Walkden train station, it says, and also claim it would bring around 200 jobs to the local area.
“Land North of Mosley Common will be a new community located within an ecologically rich landscape network that will create a sustainable place where both people and nature can flourish,” the masterplan said. “The landscape-led approach for the site embraces the existing green and blue assets to create a new special place, with distinctive character and a strong community.
“The masterplan includes a network of public green spaces with three significant biodiverse parklands at the core of the community - Mosley Woods, the reinstated lost woodland of Tyldesley Hurst, Honksford Meadows, the destination brookside parkland, and Mosley Mosslands, an educational, multifunctional landscape focused around a body of water overlooked by homes. Together, these will form an attractive, vibrant new parkland destination with an appealing mix of high-quality homes, landscaped open space and valuable new amenities serving existing and new residents.”
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