A RETIRED Horwich business owner claims he is unable to sell his premises because it falls within the development site of the new 1700-home Rivington Chase housing estate.

Peter Smethurst ran PDS Sheet Metal for 32 years, purchasing and opening an 8,000 sq ft factory in Whitworth Street, Horwich in 1986.

The successful firm at one time employed 18 staff members, before Mr Smethurst retired and closed the business down in 2008.

After paying the remaining staff redundancy cash, he planned to sell the firm’s building, having received an offer of £350,000 for it a year earlier.

But soon after the firm closed down, it was revealed that the premises and its surrounding land fell within the boundaries of the Horwich Loco Works site — which had been earmarked by Bolton Council as an area for development.

Mr Smethurst said that since that point, he has been unable to sell the building and has called on the developers of the Rivington Chase site, Horwich Vision— a joint venture between Bluemantle and Orbit Investments/Emerson — to make him an offer.

The 72-year-old said: “I got the valuation in 2007 but decided to run the business for one more year so I could make sure everybody got paid and all the loose ends were tied up.

“But since the publication of the core strategy there has been no one interested and I am still paying business rates for the premises — I just feel stuck.

“My dream was that after working hard on the business for 32 years I would sell up and retire, In a perfect world I would be relaxing on a beach in Bermuda — but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen anytime soon.”

Mr Smethurst said the building is scheduled for demolition within the Rivington Chase plans but he is yet to receive any offers from the developers.

He said: “I think the right thing to do would be for them to buy me out but I don’t think they need it yet.”

Plans for the huge Rivington Chase development on the Loco Works site were rubber stamped by Bolton Council back in September, with the project expected to take between 12 and 15 years to complete.

No one from Horwich Vision was available for comment.