Man in charge of regeneration of Bolton hits back at criticism (From The Bolton News)

Man in charge of regeneration of Bolton hits back at criticism

11:29am Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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THE man in charge of regenerating Bolton has spoken about the challenge of “interpreting” the town’s heritage while securing future development.

Bolton Council’s director of development and regeneration, Keith Davies, said some of the criticism from the Bolton Civic Trust, as reported in yesterday’s The Bolton News, was “subjective”.

But he said some of the points, included in Trust chairman, Brian Tetlow’s response to the council’s draft Core Strategy — the document which sets out a 15 year blue-print for the town — were misleading and inaccurate.

Mr Tetlow, in a six page letter to the authority, criticised everything from the design of buildings to potholes and the state of the borough’s streets.

But Mr Davies said: “A lot of what he is saying is subjective and this was a chance for the Civic Trust to have their say and make representations on the Core Strategy.”

Defending criticism of the council allowing designs which Mr Tetlow described as “artificial”, including the new Picture House apartments in Bradshawgate, or “incongruous” — the Topp Way Car Park — Mr Davies said: “I agree that we need some urban design policies and those are included in the Building Bolton design guide, which the Civic Trust contributed towards.

“We have to make a judgement as developments come to us and we have to strike a balance between interpreting our heritage and securing future jobs and a future for Bolton.”

Another area touched upon by Mr Tetlow was that of affordable housing and the need to have these such developments close to the town centre.

Mr Davies said: “We have the Westpoint development opposite the Bolton Lads and Girls Club which will provide just that.

“There will be 40 units on the edge of the town centre and they will complement the other affordable housing developments around the borough.”

He added that concerns that did not relate to the Core Strategy, such as criticism of bin collection staff and the graffiti around the borough, would be dealt with by other departments.

Mr Tetlow said the council had been producing guides such as Building Bolton for years.

But he added: “It is all very well having these plans and guides but a lot of time they are disregarded as soon as they are written. We all want the best for this town but at times the bread and butter things are being ignored and that is why we submitted the response to the core strategy.”