Dear Sir,

In recent months we have seen government inspectors upholding developers’ appeals against Bolton Planning Committee decisions with regards to sites in Blackrod and Westhoughton.

In each of the three cases the Planning Committee had respected Bolton’s Local Plan, which disallowed building on open protected space.

Residents of Horwich face a similar disappointment if, as we hope, the Planning Committee refuses the current application for the building of 300 houses on the golf course and the applicants appeal.

The most effective way to defeat this possibility is to lobby the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Savid Javid, to ask him to direct Planning Inspectors to respect the Local Plan that Bolton has had in place since 2011. The Tory Government claims to support localism. In Horwich they have a chance to show this support in practice.

Yours faithfully,

Cllr Kevin McKeon