Mine collapse leads to new by-pass calls

Park Road resident John Read told Westhoughton annual town meeting his neighbour's garden had partially sunk into a disused mine.

He fears vibrations from too much traffic on the road caused the collapse and that the highway itself may be liable to cave in.

And it emerged at the meeting that no one knows exactly where all the old coal mining shafts are in Westhoughton.

Mr Read claimed parts of the road had collapsed twice - the last time only 12 months ago.

He said: "If something's not done you're going to have a disaster on your hands."

His neighbours had not even realised there was a mine shaft until they were about to move and had a survey done.

Experts found subsidence had been happening for some time around the 100-year-old shaft, discovered listed on historical records.

Mr Read said the problem was getting worse as motorists travelled through Westhoughton to the new Middlebrook Development in Horwich.

He added the road had not been designed to cope with the quantity of vehicles.

"It was a B-class road and not meant for the amount of traffic it gets.

"This is a residential area - or at least it was.

"Why should we suffer?"

Cllr Brian Clare told the meeting that although there was a list of official mine shafts held by the former British Coal Board, many former private mines were not properly documented.

He said land owners last century would just sink a mine shaft to the coal seam and dig until it began to fall in and then make another one nearby.

Mayor Bernard Ramsden added: "There's nobody that has got a complete picture."

The meeting heard that building the expensive by-pass would be very unlikely through public money and unacceptable through private finance because developers would want to build around 1,600 houses to pay for it.

Cllr Ramsden promised to take up the issue with Bolton Council.

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