Golf club signs agreement with developer over housing

4 Dec 2019 11:25
Published by: Daniel Almond

 

A GOLF club has signed an agreement with a developer who wants to build hundreds of houses on its green belt site, it has been revealed.

A total of 280 houses could be built at Regent Park Golf Club in Lostock if Beck Developments gets its way.

The developer, which has a "promotion agreement" with the golf club operator, to promote parcels of the council-owned land for development.

It has urged authorities to lift the site's protected green belt status as part of the region's masterplan for homes, jobs and the environment.

However, in the latest draft of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF), no green belt sites have been earmarked for housing in Bolton.

A company spokesman said: "Beck Developments has a promotion agreement with the golf course operator. We are exploring various opportunities to enhance the facility and ensure its longer term viability. As part of this brief, the potential for some limited development on the periphery of the golf course is being explored via GMSF."

Lib Dem leader Roger Hayes is due to ask the council leader council about the local authority's involvement in the promotion agreement.

He has raised the issue after "considerable" concerns were voiced by residents who discovered the proposal for the site off Chorley New Road.

A petition opposing the golf course development has been signed by more than 500 people so far.

It said: "The solution lies in the gift of Bolton Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority to recognise that additional housebuilding will be of detriment to the interests of the local population and economic productivity.

"The course is currently in a designated green belt area forming a green gateway between the towns of Bolton and Horwich. It is a community facility used extensively by families, walkers, joggers, and cyclists. The course is home to a diverse range of wildlife that would face lose their habitat including deer, birds, geese, bats, newts and aquatic invertebrates."

The petition also raises concerns about flooding, transport and local infrastructure.

A Bolton Council spokesman said: “There is no agreement between the council and Beck, or the golf course operators, in relation to potential housing development on land owned by the council at Regent Park. The council opposes any changes to the greenbelt to allow housing development in the GMSF.”

 

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