I NOTE with great interest the article in Saturday’s Bolton News regarding the visit of Brandon Lewis, Conservative Party Chairman and his comments regarding house building in Westhoughton.

Mr Lewis has admitted Government interference in the planning process, he defended the government’s decision to overturn Bolton Council’s decisions and allow the building of hundreds of homes on Westhoughton’s Greenfields.

He said: “What we need to do is look at the long-term. If we don’t provide the housing people need where there is a shortage, then our children and grandchildren will not be able to live in the areas where they want to work and where they have been brought up”.

This lays bare the supposed credentials of our Tory Councillors and MP Chris Green, who have always maintained that the two recent planning inquiries for Lee Hall and Bowlands Hey giving developers permission to build is somehow Bolton Council’s fault!

Perhaps this is yet another example of Mr Green indicating his support for local issues, only to do the opposite when in the House of Commons.

In Bolton’s 1995 Unitary Development Plan, the two sites Lee Hall and Bowlands Hey were designated as areas of protected open land and this status has remained until now.

They were also included in the Local Development Framework Core Strategy of 2010. This strategy included a Housing Land Availability Study which went to a public inquiry in 2012.

Despite attempts by developers to prove otherwise, the Planning Inspector described the study as being robust and approved it.

As part of that study there were brownfield sites with sufficient land to build nearly 9,000 houses, the equivalent of nine years building supply of houses.

Bolton Council was one of the first local authorities to have its Local Development Framework (replacing the old UDP) approved.

It is important that your readers understand that the current predicament facing Bolton and particularly Westhoughton is the fault of the Tory and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government.

In 2014, they removed the previous Labour Government’s sequential test of brownfield sites first, protected open land second and finally greenbelt land.

The Coalition introduced the National Planning Policy Framework which replaced the previous Planning Guidance Notes.

In addition, the NPPF legislation included a requirement (paragraph 13) that councils should issue a call for sites from developers and this is why green spaces in Westhoughton and the rest of the Bolton are now under very serious threat of development.

Unfortunately, there is absolutely “no wriggle room” for any council to avoid complying with this requirement.

Our political opponents would have you believe again that this is somehow the fault of Bolton Council.

Bolton Council refused with all-party support planning permission on Lee Hall and Bowlands Hey and both developers successfully appealed these decisions at planning inquiries.

We now have confirmation from Mr Lewis why the decision-making process went against Bolton Council and particularly the residents of Westhoughton.

In the run up to the local elections in May, Westhoughton residents need to think carefully to which party they cast their vote.

The Tory Chairman indicates the certainty of yet more development in Westhoughton.

Cllr David Chadwick

Westhoughton South