RESIDENTS are set to meet with local councillors and an MP to discuss a number of key issues, including plans for a new motorway.

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi will join people from Kearsley on Friday to discuss the controversial motorway extension plan which could see a highway branch out through the town.

The scheme is still at a very early stage of its development, with Highways England beginning to survey land close to the M61 as the site for a potential link to the M62.

However, residents have concerns that house prices could be affected by the scheme and specifically by the threat of the compulsory purchase orders used to gather land for major infrastructure projects.

The meeting will also involve discussion of a recent planning application for the Atlas House building in Springfield Road.

The application could see the building transformed into a house of multiple occupancy with space for eight people.

In addition, there are plans to consider another application for 33 homes to be built on the site of the former Alderbank Care Home, in Melville Road.

Local councillors Mark Cunningham (UKIP), Liam Irving (Labour) and Julie Pattison (Farnworth and Kearsley First) will also be in attendance, alongside Mrs Qureshi.

The meeting begins at 7.00pm a the St John Fisher Church, at the Schoenstatt Centre in Manchester Road, BL4 8QQ.