RE: The Boarding College v Green Belt at Wingates. Although no revised plan has yet been submitted, it seems to be the clear intention of the Trustees of the Higher Islamic Education Institute to present such plan within weeks.
That report will be sufficient to engage the residents of Wingates in a fresh campaign to protect the Green Belt from even the reduced building said to be in that new plan.
The residents are vehemently against ANY building (other than agricultural) which threatens to undermine the Green Belt designation placed upon this particular farmland, and expect the Planning Committee of Bolton Council to reject any further such plan irrespective of scale or educational merit.
Indeed, had the original plan actually got to the stage of being considered by that Planning Committee (rather than being withdrawn on the very day that it was to be deliberated-on) we would have expected it to be rejected on the basis that the Green Belt had to be preserved from any non-agricultural building which was clearly inappropriate in such setting.
It is the very existence of Green Belt designation which ought to have warned those Trustees not to have embarked upon the expensive course that they have, and it is naive of their spokesman to express surprise that residents objected to the first plan.
Nor should the Trustees be surprised by the ability and determination of residents of this area to argue their case for the status quo, and residents will not simply "give up" on this one, as there are signs that these plans are being seen by some builders (and some farm owners) as a "test case" of Bolton Planning Committee's view of the inviolability of Green Belt. Let this plan through and adjacent farms will rapidly sell up to the speculators and land-bankers.
My advice to the Trustees is to make plans for some other (Brownfield) site, or be prepared for a long and bitter fight with local residents which will do nothing for good communal relations.
Simply transferring the college from a semi-rural site in one part of Bolton to a Green Belt site in this part of the Borough does not solve its problems: much deeper thought is needed, and wisdom too.
Pat Brennan
Hardy Close
Wingates
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article