Council fears over m-way sites

PROPOSALS for vast employment sites along the M58 corridor by a neighbouring council have prompted concerns at Wigan town hall.

Authority bosses will submit an ‘informal objection’ to counterparts in West Lancashire over their draft Local Plan as it could ‘jeopardise’ aspects of Wigan’s own development framework.

They will outline fears about the impact on an often over-loaded M58/ M6 junction at Orrell and will propose the two town halls fund a traffic capacity assessment.

West Lancashire is conducting a Local Plan review with proposals to create 170 hectares of employment land along the M58 in and around Skelmersdale, including areas of green belt, close to the boundary with Wigan borough.

However, while town hall bosses say they are ‘supportive in principle’ of their neighbour’s plans, the employment sites will ‘inevitably increase the level of HGVs and other commercial traffic using junction 26 at Orrell’.

As part of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF), Wigan is proposing an employment site of around 54 hectares at junction 25 of the M6. The council report, created by assistant director for growth and housing, Marie Bintley, reads: “170 hectares of new employment development along the M58 corridor is likely to significantly increase traffic using this junction, which could potentially jeopardise our economic case for large scale logistics development at M6 Junction 25.”