Homes plan on site of former colliery

UP to 268 homes could be built on the site of a former colliery.

An outline planning application submitted by the Peel Group reveals plans for a new housing estate set over 19 acres off Smithy Brook Road in Wigan.

Pemberton Colliery, which closed in 1959, was the site of two mining disasters where explosions killed nine workers in 1830 and 36 men and boys in 1877.

Peel wants to bring the long-vacant site back into use by building a mixture of detached and semidetached properties, although the exact design and layout will be subject to a further planning application.

If approved by Wigan council it will be served by the M58 link road from the south, with work on the £23m construction project well underway.

But a report to Wigan council’s planning committee says that Peel is not intending to provide affordable housing as it would make the overall construction project unviable. Councillors will consider the plans next Tuesday.