Wigan zeros in on developer for 59-acre mixed-use opportunity
Westwood Park, the site of a former power station that closed in 1986, could be redeveloped into around 420 homes and employment space.
The 59-acre is a priority for Wigan Council, which appointed Parkinson Real Estate to market the 58-acre site, located a mile south-east of the town centre. Best and final bids have now been received.
The land straddles the Westwood Way connector road and is close to Wigan Flashes, an area of biological interest.
It is earmarked for around 420 homes in Wigan Council’s most recent strategic housing land availability assessment, as well as employment uses.
Outline planning permission for the redevelopment of the site into a mixed-use scheme was granted in 2015 but has since expired.
That proposal earmarked 12 acres of the wider site for employment uses and also featured a local centre and a visitor centre for the flashes.
Aidan Thatcher, director for place at Wigan Council, said: “Westwood Park is a strategically significant brownfield site in a prime location, for a mix of residential and employment use.
“Near Wigan town centre, close to junctions 25 and 26 of the M6, benefiting from new road infrastructure, and with easy access to Manchester, Liverpool and Central Lancashire, this connectivity will be central to our wider regional plans over the next decade.
“With new employment and jobs, a new community in our borough, and green infrastructure enhancing our beautiful Greenheart on the doorstep of this site, this new neighbourhood supports our ambitions to make Wigan a dynamic place to live, work and visit.”
Just what we don’t need 420 houses and another 1000 plus cars and gridlock, leave it green for the wildlife this is encroaching on it to much
By Neil
No the bike jumps are there🥀
By Anymous
Leave our flashes and Greenland alone there’s enough empty derelict buildings to build on this is a beauty spot with local wildlife I live nearby and just one of many people who will not be happy….sorry NO your already building in the town centre Leave our Greenland alone
By Lesley Connor
It’s a beautiful woodland home to a variety of birds and wildlife. It would be an absolute abomination if you develop this land.
By Sue
It’s about time something positive was done to this area and we’ll overdue why was it not implemented in the first place it seems that Wigan on the whole is degenerating and this development must be allowed to go ahead with the town centre in disarray at present.
By David Wells
Are these houses going to be for the Brits that have been waiting years for a house.
By Anonymous
I think it’s dreadful , our Hospitals are over crowded, and Doctors surgery , , we cannot cope with the amount of people now . So I hope it doesn’t happen
By Anonymous
Not going to be much of a ‘Green heart’ when they keep encroaching on it…
By Fi
Not more houses for the Manchester overspill. Not even the right sort of housing. Build some bungalows.
By Chris L
Will the local residents get a say in what happens here? Or has it already been decided what is going to happen here by the council?
By Phillip Yates
It’s great as long as Wigan council put in the appropriate medical services, they have not done this for Standish, that have let these housing companies build without thinking about doctors services schools and dentists.Standish is shocking there is a 3 to 4 week wait to see a doctor, the dentist are the same and you have to ship your child out to somewhere else to get a place. But they will still build a fitness centre run by them.
By Lincoln Yates
Leave the area ALONE
By Tony
About time that this area was developed. We desperately need more housing.
By Anonymous
There should be much more focus on restoring the thousands of empty properties that are decaying while people wait years for a home, and families are living in hostels… surely there are companies and people with the skills and resources to tackle this issue rather than building more new homes on sites that impact what’s left of our natural environment.
By Michelle
We don’t need more wild growth destroyed we will have no where to walk get a bit of fresh air instead of car fumes
By More cheap houses for those coming in