Plea for Westhoughton £1m covenant cash fails

10:32am Tuesday 13th May 2008

HOPES that a £1 million windfall would be spent in Westhoughton have been dashed.

The money was paid by Sainsbury's to Bolton Council to lift a covenant protecting land at Westhoughton Cricket Club.

The new Mayor of Westhoughton, Cllr David Chadwick, called for the money to be used to benefit the town.

But Bolton Council's Labour executive would have to change its current policy on capital receipts for the cash to be spent in Westhoughton alone.

All money received goes into a "capital receipts pot" and is spent across the borough.

Leader of the council, Cllr Cliff Morris, said: "At this stage I have no intention of changing the policy. It would mean if we sold property along Chorley New Road it could only be spent in Deane.

"We gave Westhoughton two new schools last year, at a cost of £6 million. I do understand where Cllr Chadwick is coming from and I will make sure Westhoughton gets its fair share."

The council's planning committee gave Sainsbury's permission to build a £7.5 million store on the site of the cricket club in Cricketers Way in January.

The committee also gave permission for a new cricket club to be built on land at The Hoskers, Daisy Hill, which must be up and running before work starts on the new store.

The Bolton News revealed last week that the council had accepted £1 million from the supermarket giant to lift the covenant which restricted the use of the land to recreational purposes only.

The covenant now covers the new site at Daisy Hill.

Cllr Chadwick, who also represents Westhoughton South on Bolton Council, said he was very disappointed with Cllr Morris' response.

He said: "I think morally we should be spending the money in Westhoughton. The covenant was originally put on the land to ensure it was only used for recreational purposes for people in Westhoughton.

"If someone decides to remove it for an amount of money then that money should be spent for the benefit of Westhoughton people and not for the rest of the borough."