Harworth’s Wingates road rethink gets green light

Bolton councillors noted that the developer’s proposed realignment of Chorley Road would improve future traffic frustrations for nearby residents of the developer’s 1.1m sq ft industrial park.

Harworth’s plans to downgrade a current section of the A6 at Chorley Road to serve residents of the Blue Bell cottages, while adding a new route and T-Junction for the A6 with a landscape buffer between the new and old roads, was approved on Thursday.

In realigning the A6, Harworth will create a new access point for the West of Wingates industrial park – replacing the previously approved Wimberry Hill Road location. The realignment will also create a ‘front entrance’ of sorts for the park, providing a grander entryway for those entering the major development.

While councillors were supportive of the scheme, they were not necessarily enthusiastic. The West of Wingates project is a controversial one, having been called in by the secretary of state in May 2020 and only signed off in June 2021.

Cllr Roger Hayes, a Lib Dem representing Smithills, stood by his earlier objections to the project over highway safety – although he noted that this battle had already been fought and lost.

“The traffic implications overall for Westhoughton is going to pretty dire,” he told councillors on Thursday’s planning committee meeting. He added, somewhat begrudgingly, that the application would “do a modicum to improve” the situation, and thus earned his support.

Johnson Mowat is the planning consultant for the West of Wingates road realignment, with Mosodi as transport consultant. The Environment Partnership is the landscape architect and RPS the designer. Hydrock is the flood risk, civil engineering, geotechnical, and land quality consultant.

You can learn more about the scheme by searching 16770/23 on Bolton Council’s planning portal.