Salcaul adds houses to Astley Point

Wigan Council has approved revised plans for Astley Point, a £9m residential and leisure development on 4.5 acres in Higher Green Lane.

There will be 12 apartments ranging from 600 sq ft for one-bed to 1,345 sq ft for two-beds in two new, three-storey buildings. There will also be two 1,657 sq ft three-bedroom exclusive penthouse apartments, one in each building.

The earlier plan approved in May included 32 flats and no houses. The new plan includes 14 houses and a reduced number of flats. A leisure pavilion with dining and entertainment spaces will complete the scheme, designed by Cartwright & Gross.

Sean McCaul, director of Salcaul, said: “Having listened to feedback about our original approved plans, we realised many local people interested in Astley Point prefer houses to apartments, so we decided to change our plans to make sure we provide homes local people will want to live in.

“We’ve received a significant amount of interest from people wishing to live at Astley Point and also had a huge amount of interest in our commercial leisure space. I hope to be able to announce our first operators very soon.”

Cllr David Molyneux, Wigan Council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said: “The population of Wigan borough is growing, in fact by 2026 it’s predicted we’ll need an extra 13,500 homes to keep up with demand. Wigan Council is committed to ensuring we have enough homes for local residents and so we are pleased that this application, in the popular village of Astley, has been given the green light. The high quality development will not only bring new homes to Astley, but will also create over 70 new jobs. I look forward to seeing the scheme take shape.”

Salcaul is making a £9m investment into the development and envisages over 70 new permanent jobs will be created at Astley Point. The Environment Partnership has developed the landscape designs while planning advice was provided by Euan Kellie Property Solutions.

Salcaul is a joint venture between Salboy and Redwaters and has been set up specifically to deliver Astley Point.

Salboy, owned by Fred Done and Simon Ismail, develops schemes throughout the UK. Ismail said: “This is the first project we have undertaken in Astley and we are really looking forward to producing a first-class development that will provide much needed facilities for the local area.”

Redwaters is a privately owned property development business based in Astley that has been building homes in the North West for nearly 40 years.

An announcement will be made in early January with further details on when the first homes will go on sale at Astley Point. The first apartments are expected to be available to move into by summer 2017.