Just a quarter of a mile from the East Lancs Road, fields and woods stretch out, with horses grazing and birdsong filling the air. Children play on a playground while dog walkers cross the land. In the shadow of the former Astley pit's lattice headgear, this is unmistakably greenbelt.
Joanna Allsop, a high school teacher who has lived in Astley, Wigan, all her life, stands beside a fence overlooking a vast expanse of hedgerows and fields towards Boothstown. The 192 acres, branded "Bridgewater West" by planners, could lose its greenbelt status to help Wigan meet its target of 16,527 new homes between 2022 and 2039, as part of the regional Places for Everyone plan.
Campaign Against Development
Allsop is a key figure in the campaign to save the land. She has posted videos of her walks through the area on the Save Our Astley and Boothstown Greenbelt social media site. The fight is personal: "I have lived in Astley all my life. There has been house building all along the East Lancs but this is greenbelt. Nearby there is Astley Moss, a site of special scientific interest."
She describes the park and playground as "all part of the site that would be lost. To sweeten it they have said they will put some kind of leisure facilities in. But the reason people come here is because it is safe, quiet, and away from the busy road."
The proposal includes 300 homes and employment-led development targeting professional, scientific, technical, manufacturing, ICT, and creative sectors. Allsop fears the loss of fields stretching to Boothstown, and the impact on wildlife, including deer that are being squeezed out.
Council Decision Pending
Wigan Council will hold an "extraordinary" meeting on September 2 to decide on the proposals, which were paused last year after backlash. Campaigners plan to march on August 22 from Ellesmere Street to Boothstown.
Allsop notes that the site performs the five key functions of a Green Belt as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. "Wigan Council have bypassed this and gone straight to their own seven criteria," she says, challenging the criterion that the land has the "attributes and capability to secure investment to deliver transformational development."
A Wigan Council spokesperson said: "The council has been working to prepare a new Local Plan to guide sustainable development... We recognise the important role that green spaces play... Protecting and enhancing our most valued green spaces wherever possible remains an important consideration as part of the plan-making process."
The spokesperson added that "these are proposals rather than approved decisions" and that any future development would need to be supported by appropriate infrastructure.
