Plan for 30 new homes put forward

MORE than 30 homes could be built on the site of an old mill if planners give a developer’s proposals the green light.

Wiggett Construction Group’s application for 35 homes at the site of the former Perseverance Mill, in Westhoughton, goes before Bolton council’s planning committee this week.

Recent proposals to build in the town have been thrown out by councillors, including those for 174 homes at Bowlands Hey and 58 at Hartleys Farm.

But while those fell foul of the authority’s green belt policy, the plans for the Perseverance Mill site – which was largely cleared in 2016 – are expected to prove less controversial.

Westhoughton town councillor Ryan Battersby said it was right for the council to pursue a ‘brownfield-first’ policy.

He said: “It’s definitely the right way forward. Brownfieldfirst should always be the policy the council adopts, to protect the greenfields.

“But we do need to build houses and if we build them to meet the quota it should be on brownfield sites.

“Perseverance Mill is a large site so houses built on that should help meet our required quota for houses and help to save the green belt.”

A council officer’s report concludes that the plans are ‘positive’ and will ‘not only provide much-needed housing in the borough, but will also develop a vacant and derelict site’.