RE the Hulton Park golf and spa plans.

Peel said: "We have taken our time to listen and address all the issues that have been raised".

It may have "listened", but has it actually heard what the people of Westhoughton and Over Hulton have to say?

We don't think so. We don't want or need more houses or another golf course here thanks.

We already have grave concerns about the vast amount of traffic at both Chequerbent and Watergate/Cutacre junctions of the M61.

At peak times, there are more than 125 vehicles every five minutes coming up from Westhoughton to Junction 5.

Imagine another 1,000 plus houses, with at least two cars each, the pollution is bad enough already — well you can't imagine it, can you?

There is much talk of a long-overdue bypass and other infrastructure improvements, but when will all this materialise, if ever?

The pollution won't go away, will it?

Peel has tried to get residents on side by dangling a carrot in the shape of a Hulton Park Trail and restoring the park to its former glory.

The bottom line is this historic park can never be restored to its former glory . . . especially not by plonking a monstrous-looking building (resembling a 1950's convalescent home) in the middle of it and surrounding it with spectator stands and all the other paraphernalia that goes with a championship golf course.

This is farm land, good farm land, and should be left to continue as such.

We are going to need all the home produce we can get as we pull out of Europe.

Dairy farms are folding at an alarming rate. We must cherish the ones we have left.

Just a final thought for you all. How and why would "70,000 visitors at a time" possibly get to the golf tournaments, even with the improved roads?

I can picture bus loads of them stacked up on the slipway at Junction 4 vying with Aldi and other trucks.

There is no way this could happen.

Maybe Bolton Council planners will be swayed by visions of these posh spectators who have previously visited more exotic places for Ryder Cup matches, nipping into Bolton on the 582 for a wander down Newport Street to see what bargains can be snapped up in the pound and charity shops, or a quick trip along Bradshawgate to look at the hundreds of homes already for sale in the estate agents' windows.

Dorothy Syddall

Over Hulton