A PETITION calling for Westhoughton to have its own purpose-built health centre has been launched.

Westhoughton town councillor David Wilkinson last week launched a petition calling for Bolton Council to give the former council yard land, off Park Road, to the NHS to help secure a large town centre site for health use.

Cllr Wilkinson said: "Westhoughton has grown massively over the last few years. Even back in 2000 we desperately needed a proper health centre and that need is even more pressing now.

"It is remarkable that a town the size of Westhoughton with so many young families and a growing older population does not have its own purpose-built health centre."

The petition, which has gathered 200 signatures in a week, comes after the recent moved of the town centre's clinic services into the Winifred Kettle centre in Washacre.

Some users have complained that the centre does not offer all of the services that health centres in other areas of Bolton offer.

Cllr Wilkinson added: "Residents have told me that they find Winifred Kettle difficult to reach on public transport and that, whilst it is an improvement, it is certainly no substitute for a purpose-built facility based in the town centre."

The petition can be signed at www.mywesthoughton.co.uk/health