RE the proposed development by Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd on land at The Hollins, Plodder Lane, Farnworth.

The proposed development of up to 250 houses between the Royal Bolton Hospital and the Great Lever and Farnworth Golf Club course can be regarded as unwise for several reasons:

1.Traffic congestion on Plodder Lane: it is over-loaded for several hours during the day, as it has to accommodate HGVs going to the M61; ambulances, staff vehicles, patients and visitors gong to and from the hospital. This is added to by the absence of a link road from the A.666 (St Peter's Way) to the northbound M61 at junction 3.

2. Amenity value of the "open protected land" between the hospital and the golf course: this area contains footpaths leading towards Great Lever, and contains the only non-road access from Plodder Lane to Freshfield Road and Lever Edge. The statement in the proposal that "there are no landscape policy constraints related to the site" ignores the amenity value of an uninterrupted view over Bolton towards Winter Hill, which enhances the value of properties along this stretch of Plodder Lane.

3. Air quality: this area suffers already from pollution caused by heavy vehicles using Plodder Lane. As many of the 250 houses would include at least one vehicle, pollution would be increased.

The summary of "Constraint detail" in Taylor Wimpey's submission ignores most of the above points, and claims that it "would have a minimal impact upon the local highway network", giving the impression that they are not really concerned with the likely effects of a possible increase in population of up to 1,000 people in an area where large-scale house-building was carried out in the 1960s.

I suggest that these issues are considered when the formal planning application is submitted later on this year.

Colin Harding

Highfield Road

Farnworth