Dear Professor Holmes, no doubt you are by now aware of the furore that has erupted following your joint announcement with the Leader of Bolton Council that you intend to build a student village in Cheadle Square directly in front of one of Bolton’s best-loved landmarks, the Grade II listed, Le Mans Crescent.

Whilst welcoming the University’s intention to invest £40m in the town and wishing it every success as it seeks to establish itself as a nationally-respected seat of learning, did you not stop to think where you were proposing to build the student village or what impact this might have?

Presumably the Council did not bother to advise you of the significance of the public open space in Cheadle Square that has stood for almost 80 years protecting the view and approach to the Civic Centre and Town Hall. For if they had, you would have realised that it is pursuing a short- term, short-sighted strategy to realise the value of a currently undeveloped piece of Council land regardless of its significance to the people of Bolton.

The Council has now placed you in an unenviable position. It may have agreed to sell you the land but you will be responsible for developing it and therefore any criticism of the siting and design of the student block will be directed firmly to your door. And the people of Bolton have long memories, if this scheme is built the University’s reputation in the town will be irreparably damaged.

The public of Bolton are ‘up in arms’ at this proposal. It is the talk of the town, not just the pages of the Bolton News. There is an on-line petition which has now passed the 1000 mark in one week together with a street petition and facebook page and the issue is set to go ‘national’. If you ask around as we have, there is not one voice (apart from the Leader of the Council) in support of this scheme. And, however much you might promise to design something better than the ‘artist’s impression’ that featured in the Bolton News, please be advised that short of removing the whole block to another location, there is nothing you can do to make this proposal acceptable.

We therefore ask you, respectfully, for the good of your own reputation and the University’s and the town to think again before you proceed further. If you choose to build on the soon-to-be-vacated bus station site, you will receive public support – providing it is a sensitively designed scheme. There is no way you will ever receive public support for the scheme on Cheadle Square which will be the equivalent of ‘stealing the family silver’. The Council may promise to ‘drive it through’ in the face of major opposition but the University will be the one to suffer the ‘backlash’.

Stuart Whittle on behalf of

Save Cheadle Square Action Group