A CONCERNED Tyldesley resident has set up a Facebook group to fight plans to build more than 400 homes on green belt land.

A new blueprint entitled the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF), which is aiming to allow 25,000 new homes to be built by 2035 – with hundreds planned on land at Cleworth Hall – was approved last month.

Patricia Surtees has set up Peel Hall Residents Against Wigan Council after learning that the authority is aiming to use the blueprint to enable it to change the status of the green belt land at Cleworth Hall to a brownfield site, to allow development to go ahead sooner than anticipated.

The 44-year-old, of Peel Hall Avenue, said: "I would like to know how Wigan Council and the GMSF plans to manage this housing plan.

"The people of Tyldesley were notified of these plans via an A4 laminated piece of paper tied to a lamp post in the middle of Peel Hall Avenue.

"As a result we wanted to heighten awareness, so posted leaflets on the Peel Hall estate and set up the Facebook group.

"However what became clear quite quickly is that most people are unaware of the plans."

Mrs Surtees added that a recent residents' meeting held with a council planner suggested the development at Cleworth Hall, which residents had thought was a long way off, is likely to be completed within the next four years.

She said: "This is a beautiful part of Tyldesley and is a wildlife haven, but the planner stressed that there would need to be a strong and valid argument against the proposals, such as the negative impact any development would have on the road networks, schools, health and leisure facilities, as well as the direct impact on the green belt area itself."

A council spokesman said the GMSF blueprint had won approval of all 10 councils in Greater Manchester last month, including Wigan Council, and is now out to public consultation.

He added: "The draft plan outlines where new homes and transport infrastructure will be built and new employment land created.

"It takes into account future generations' housing needs, not just what is needed within the next few years.

"Right across the borough there are a number of housing developments with planning approval and these are spread across a number of areas, with high levels of homes identified for Standish, Hindley, Golborne and Lowton, not just in Atherton, Leigh and Tyldesley."

Mrs Surtees said: "The framework is about Manchester, and Wigan Council has bought into it, without listening to its residents.

"If all of this goes ahead there will be no Tyldesley, as they want to join up the boundaries.

"If residents do not object this blueprint will go ahead.

"This is the only opportunity we have to try to stop it."

The deadline for submitted objections is December 23.

You can object via wigan.gov.uk/gmsf, by e-mailing GMSF@agma.gov.uk or writing to Greater Manchester Integrated Support Team, PO Box 532, Town Hall, Manchester, M60 2LA.