Rivington Chase approval sealed by Bellway

Bolton Council has granted reserved matters approval to the housebuilder for 205 homes within the £262m redevelopment of the Horwich Loco Works.

Rivington Chase, a 1,700-home masterplan area, is being delivered by Bluemantle Group in partnership with Bolton Council, Homes England, and HKR.

The scheme proposes the redevelopment of the former locomotive works in Horwich, with its promoters being granted outline permission in 2015.

Working with Astle Planning & Design, Bellway applied for reserved matters approval this summer for this tranche of development, which includes the extension by 10 houses and completion of its Barton Quarter development – 112 homes are currenlty under construction as phase 1a of this project.

Phase 1b is to be delivered on the former buffer zone between housing and industrial, businesses now having relocated from the area.

Along with the housing, the current application also includes the delivery of the western section of a spine road that will connect different sections of Rivington Chase to Chorley New Road and to Middlebrook Retail Park, Horwich Parkway Railway Station and Junction 6 of the M61.

The application went before Bolton’s planning committee this week due to it attracting six objections, including those of Horwich Heritage, which described the plans as “standard developer’s layout” and Horwich Town Council.

In papers prepared for committee, planning officers warned that it would be impossible to deliver the spine road to budget without approval, putting 800 further homes in the masterplan area at risk.

In this second phase of its work at Rivington Chase, Bellway proposes to build 127 homes north of the spine road, on part of the plateau area where the railway buildings once stood, and 68 south of the spine road. The spine road was consented in 2019.

The spine road will open up further development sites at Rivington Chase. Credit: planning documents