Peel set for approval with Horwich golf course housing

Peel Investments’ outline application for up to 300 homes at the site of the nine-hole Horwich Golf Club will go before Bolton’s planning committee with a recommendation for approval this week.

Advised by Emery Planning Partnership, the application covers 45.5 acres, taking in the course site and two parcels of agricultural land to the north and east. The main access point of three into the sharply sloping site will be from Victoria Road.

As Peel is only seeking an outline consent, detail on the proposed housing mix and architectural style has not been included in the application, although landscape architect Randall Thorp has provided an indicative layout of how the scheme could look.

Not unlike Peel’s plans for a Ryder Cup-standard golf course resort and conference centre at Hulton Park, approved by Bolton in March, the plans have attracted some opposition locally due to the loss of open land.

However, with Bolton unable to demonstrate a five-year housing supply – as recorded in the application’s notes of pre-application discussions – and being regarded as in line with the local authority’s development principles, planning officers have recommended the project for approval.

The site borders Jones Homes’ Rivington Grange development, a 130-home scheme that is currently on site.

Also recommended for approval at June’s committee are a scheme for 174 homes by Bellway off Rowlands Way in Westhoughton designed by APD, where 35 of houses are to be classed as affordable; and a 35-home project at Perseverance Mill, a former industrial site vacant since 2006. HNA Architects has designed the latter scheme for Wiggett Construction.