Countryside secures consent at 1,800-home North Leigh Park
The housebuilder will press on with the first 199 homes at the 178-acre site after receiving planning approval from Wigan Council.
Countryside’s consent for the opening phase of the project includes 87 affordable homes, to be delivered by Great Places Housing Group, with a further 112 properties for open market sale.
The wider site has outline consent for around 1,800 homes, a district centre, infrastructure, and green space. Work on the first homes is expected to start early next year.
As part of the project, Countryside will also invest approximately £1m in a section of the planned new link road between J26 of the M6 and J5 of the M61.
The site to the south east of Wigan is made up of mostly vacant land and is bordered by two main roads, the A577 to the north and A578 to the west with Westleigh High School to the south east of the site.
Countryside acquired the site in a process run by CBRE in 2018. The site had been promoted by North Leigh Park Group, part of Guernsey-based Long Port Properties, but Long Port put the business into administration in December 2016.
Cllr David Molyneux, leader of Wigan Council said: “North Leigh Park is a key brownfield site outlined in our local plan and regeneration strategy and without this development, there would be a lot of pressure put onto our greenbelt.
“It’s good news that this most recent planning application has been approved by committee members. Not only will it help us to meet housing demand over the next five years, but it will also provide local people with quality, affordable housing, which is another top priority for us.
“We will continue to work with Countryside to ensure that this development is one which suits local need and, just like on this occasion, any further applications will be decided in line with local and national planning policy.”
Lichfields advised countryside on its planning application.
Could they first please finish our development at Hamilton Square in Atherton. The pulled off site in Dec 2018 and left us without completing the road, footpaths patchy street lighting. It is a disgrace that they can even start a new development without completing existing.
By andy keen
Please could you finish the developement in Hamilton Square Atherton before moving on to building new houses in Leigh. We have lived here 18 months and still have no finished roads or pathways.
I advise all prospective buyers to double check any information provided by the sales team as they gave me misleading information prior to sale.
By Helen Keen
Just to make further note to the previous comments. We too are residents at the site in Atherton. They have abandoned the site in a disgraceful state. No tarmac on the roads. No curbs. The “green space” has been left to rot brown and is overgrown. Lied to about the access points which leave us vulnerable. Beware. Disgusting.
By Tim Ashburn
I would not recommend Countryside properties to anyone. Our home is less than 18months old and has a list of things wrong with it. The development we are on is incomplete and in a very poor state despite Countryside contractors moving out in December 2018. They sold the houses, made their money and abandoned their customers. If you’re looking to buy with Countrysode in the North West, please come to Hamilton Square in Atherton first and see for yourself. Awful. We cannot wait to move out.
By R Cooke
Will there be more infrastructure in place once built? More doctors surgeries locally, dentists, schools, shops, better buses or even the metro?
By Jennifer Mooney
Having worked with Countryside in the past the comments here don’t surprise me. Totally cost driven. Very different from the Countryside Properties days.
By JJ
The land they are building on I wouldn’t buy a house there. Reading previous comments it looks like it’s just a money making busy and no thought about the impact it will have on the over infrastructure of the area. I urge anyone thinking of moving into these new houses to take a look at the land now, to see what they are building on.
By Anonymous
This is an absolutely DISGUSTING development. Building all the houses is bad enough but they are also bulldozing a valuable wooded wildlife corridor used by rare wildlife to build a road which will only increase traffic noise and pollution in the area. Where will the locals go to walk their dogs and to get into nature to relieve the stresses of life? All Wigan Council are bothered about is getting more council tax into the coffers. They don’t give a toss about folks’ quality of life or wildlife. Awful, awful, awful.
By Anon
Wigan council, don’t care about leigh,Atherton or tyldesley.
The roads are absolutely at breaking point around Atherton and leigh to start with.
Council can’t even fill a few pot holes or maintain the area in its present state.the area in general is one large dog toilet which has lacked investment for years.
The new housing developments on gadbury estate and bag lane north road and around the top end of the bypass around by the Driving Test centre and Guide dog centre are looking a mess, litter everywhere, dog mess on the footpaths,rubbish dumped on the road side verge…
The bypass is basically a public road, it doesn’t bypass anything only direct you to Asda and the retail park.
Any new developments are tapped into the bypass making it more gridlocked.
There are simply to many cars,lorries and not enough roads for them.
This so-called new development behind westleigh will only had more chaos.
Think theres been enough house building around the leigh Lowton Atherton area to fill the Wigan council tax coffers… time to start spending some on the basics.
Cleaning the place up would be a start..
By A taylor