PLANS for a championship golf course and huge housing development have “sparked deep upset with residents”, according to a town council leader.

Peel Land and Property submitted the application for the “once-in-a-generation” project on the Hulton Park Estate near Westhoughton earlier this year.

It includes the creation of an 18-hole championship golf venue, supporting facilities and up to 1,036 homes.

But it has been met with fierce opposition in the town and now Westhoughton Town Council has recommended unanimously that planning permission is refused.

Concerns raised include increased traffic congestion, possible overdevelopment. of the area and the number of documents that have been submitted with the application, which add up to nearly 500.

In a speech at Monday’s meeting of the town council’s planning committee, leader Cllr Ryan Battersby said: “This planning application has sparked deep upset with residents and community groups alike.

“Peel Land and Property has put together an entire encyclopaedia of information to support its hybrid planning application of golf course and houses, with a view that nobody in their right minds will read them and that information overload will be the best way.”

“Peel state ‘it is our intention to bid for the hosting of the 2026 Ryder Cup’.

REVEALED: How the Ryder Cup-standard golf course planned for the Hulton Park Estate could look

"Intentions mean nothing, as Westhoughton has found out to its cost before in previous large-scale planning applications, and throughout this application, in each document, the words intention, anticipated, predicted, forecasted and so on appear.

"The only fact, is that nothing within this application is a certainty. The impact on our local community and the homes this application destroys, once done, is done. In its current form, I must move that this council recommends refusal of both parts A and B of this planning application, until such time that Peel shows a little more compassion to local residents, get their reports factually correct, and hire a proof reader for their documents.”

Councillors voted in line with his proposal to recommend the application for refusal.

Peel Land and Property has been contacted for a response.