THE regeneration of the Horwich Loco Works will be delivered without a detailed masterplan, it has been revealed.

Paul Whittingham, assistant director of planning at Bolton Council gave the update on the 1,700-home Rivington Chase scheme to Horwich Town Council on Monday.

He said the project was going to go ahead in a 'phased' manner, with each of the landowners, of which there are at least five, delivering their homes to an agreed schedule.

And explained that due to the collapse of previous developers Horwich Vision, a joint venture between Bluemantle and Orbit, a masterplan for the entire site could not be drawn up.

Mr Whittingham said: "There were documents in the original outline consent in 2015 showing roughly where the housing areas and open space areas would be.

"That's not a finalised detailed masterplan but it is an indication of roughly where the uses are going to go.

"The phasing plan will break down those areas into individual phases and begin to structure where the roads are going to go.

"In an ideal world there we would have had a more detailed masterplan but on a site like this it can be delivered with the skills of the officers we have got at Bolton Council.

"It can be delivered on a phased basis and the officers can influence how the design comes about without the need for a site-wide masterplan that everyone has to sign up to. That's my opinion."

The update came after Bellway Homes submitted an application for 112 homes on its section of the site, which caused concerns among residents.

This is despite the fact that the original outline permission for the plans included a requirement from Bolton Council for the developers to produce a masterplan.

The alternative phasing strategy for the site has been submitted to Bolton Council.

Mr Whittingham also revealed that a Memorandum of Understanding was being drawn up to ensure all developers commit to work together on a 'site-wide' basis.

And the legal agreement, detailing section 106 contributions to mitigate for impacts on the community, including highways and schools, is also being rewritten.

He said: "The original concept of delivering all the community benefits needs to be written in a way that makes it an equal share between the developers.

"The highways was always going to be delivered by the original developer (Horwich Vision) on a phased basis but with individual landowners that can't happen on the back of the original section 106 agreement.

"The council is funding the work to understand how we can move on from the highways being delivered on a phased basis, when a certain number of houses are built, to coming up with a cost per house."

The authority is also looking at external funding options for the link road to connect the site to Middlebrook and is moving to ensure sections of the site are decontaminated before any buildings are erected.

Concerns were raised by the members present, including by Cllr Steve Chadwick who said: "My main concern is that the outline planning permission said that until there is a masterplan then no construction should begin but given that there is an application for construction, what guarantees can you give that the link road would be built.

"Without a master plan, each individual company is just going to look after their own bit.

"If that link road is not being done until the very end, with 1,500-1,700 homes on there. That's extra traffic on Chorley New Road."

And several members, including Cllr Kevin McKeon, encouraged Mr Whittingham to commit to attending meetings regularly to keep councillors informed on the development.