Mixed reaction to £100m Middlebrook Masterplan
9:02am Friday 16th November 2012 in News
THE £100 million Middlebrook Masterplan was being greeted with mixed reaction when proposals were unveiled at a public consultation.
The development plan was revealed last week in The Bolton News.
They include upgraded sports facilities, the first Free School outside the Premier League, an academy with space for up to 500 students, a row of seven storey office buildings and an expansion of the Reebok stadium’s West Stand.
Yesterday Bolton Arena held a consultation event where the public were able to view the plans and ask questions of the design team.
Neil Goldsmith of NLP Planning Consultants said: “The Masterplan has caused a lot of interest.
“There are questions that people are raising about how it’s all going to work and whether the sports facilities will be available for local people to use, and these are the kind of questions you get for what is a major project.
“Big projects like this are few and far between.”
Carol Butler, who lives on the nearby Meadows estate, said she had fears about possible increase in congestion.
She added: “I’m concerned about the traffic. On a match day the traffic queues at the roundabout near where I live and I get people swearing at me because they think I’m trying to push in, but all I’m trying to do is get home.
“I have to plan what I’m doing around a match day so I’ve come to speak to the developers about it.”
David Tracey, aged 58, of Horwich, works in the maintenance department at the Arena, which would be redeveloped under the scheme.
He said: “I think it’s a good idea that we’re expanding and catering for more people. It’s bound to create more jobs and I think it’s making good use of the existing space we’ve got.”
Mike Clubley, aged 72, added: “I’m here because I’m a Wanderers fan. I think the question everyone’s asking is where’s the money’s going to come from?
“I’m keeping an open mind at the moment. I don’t really see how the Free School fits into things, but I’m more worried about getting the three points on Saturday.”
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Comments (4)
11:55am Fri 16 Nov 12
Scabbydog1 says...
something needs to be done about this before we add more congestion to the area
even Bolton suffers because people don't want to drive past the Beehive roundabout to get to bolton on the days they are avoiding Middlebrook
I must say Bolton got the better of Horwich when they moved the stadium here, they still say its is Bolton but we have the disruption it causes and loss of income
4:11pm Fri 16 Nov 12
stantheman133 says...
5:57pm Fri 16 Nov 12
bolton born and bred says...
12:54am Sat 17 Nov 12
Bob Shaftoe says...