The year is drawing to a close and this week we are looking at the biggest and best stories this year in Bolton. These are the big stories from April, May and June 2022.
April
New multimillion pound plan set to transform town centre car park into housing
Plans worth £10m were submitted in April for 58 homes to be built on the site of the former car park off St George’s Row and Bark Street, opposite the old St Helena Mill site.
The plans consisted of a mixture of two, three and four bedroom houses which were set to be available to rent and for shared ownership.
The development, to be known as “St George’s Row” was set to be led by Northwest housing provider Your Housing Group with Forshaw Construction appointed as contractor.
Road works on major Bolton junction start next week for 7 months
The month also saw the announcement of the roadworks on the crossroads of Blackburn Road, Moss Bank Way and Crompton Way in Astley Bridge.
The roadworks were set up to carry out ‘vital redevelopment’, creating a right signal turn from Moss Bank Way onto Blackburn Road.
Bolton's most 'popular' schools named as 23 oversubscribed
April brought the news that education chiefs were facing ‘significant pressures’, with 23 oversubscribed schools totalling 165 children over capacity.
Essa Academy on Lever Edge Lane was the most oversubscribed secondary school, with 34 pupils over its official number of places.
Blackrod Church School was the most oversubscribed primary with 16 extra pupils.
May
Pub taken over by new owners who want to put it at the heart of the community
May saw Gino and Donna Marone take on a new challenge as they became the new owners of The Hare and Hounds in Stoneclough.
The couple, who already owned The Pineapple Inn on Blackburn Road, hoped to turn The Hare and Hounds into a more family-based pub to bring the community back together.
Local elections 2022: How Bolton voted in full
Election fever hit the town early in the month, with residents heading to the ballot box on May 5 for local council elections.
The council were deadlocked in the vote, with neither major party being left with a majority.
Bolton Conservatives eventually took control of the council on May 16, forming a leadership alongside a small number of independent councillors and those representing smaller parties.
TV star's message to the owners of a popular Bolton cafe as they retire
The end of May saw the owners of popular eatery Café Vienna, Margaret and Gregory Wood, announce their retirement, moving to Wiltshire to be closer to family.
They were wished a happy retirement by none other than Bolton’s own Paddy McGuinness, who called it the ‘end of an era’.
June
Bolton cinema pulls 'blasphemous' film after protests
Summer in Bolton kicked off with controversy as members of the Muslim community protested the showing of drama film The Lady of Heaven at Bolton Cineworld.
Outcry met the planned showing of the film, which was said to be ‘blasphemous in nature to the Muslim community’, with more than 100 people turning out to the protest.
The film was pulled by Bolton Cineworld amongst the protests.
Raids across Bolton as police launch major crackdown
The month also saw Greater Manchester Police bring Operation Avro to Bolton, cracking down on crime in a day of action on June 30.
The operation was joined by MPs Yasmin Qureshi, Mark Logan and Cllr Mudasir Dean, as around 80 to 100 officers converged on Bolton.
It was part of a series of rolling operations across the city region.
Bolton Central Library to move to temporary home to allow refurbishment works
June saw the announcement of Bolton Central Library's move to Crompton Place to allow for the building to undergo a £3m revamp.
The money was set aside for expanding and upgrading the children’s area, improving social spaces and updating the digital facilities in the main area, with the addition of a mezzanine floor.
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