Wigan District Group

Help Us Save Your Greenbelt

CPRE Respond to Wigan UDP Issues Paper

Wigan's Unitary Development Plan (UDP) is the Borough's blueprint for development in your countryside. The Plan is now being reviewed and CPRE were consulted at the first stage.

Wigan issued a consultation on issues report - this is a document upon which organisations like ours and the wider public can respond to.

Our response can be summarised as follows:

Employment:

We support the review of existing allocations and previously developed sites for employment uses......allocating new employment sites within urban areas is the more sustainable option.

Housing:

• The target figure of 65% of new housing on brownfield sites is not ambitious enough to assist urban regeneration.
• We would like to see an affordable housing policy that encourages refurbishment of existing properties and an element of this housing in all new developments.

Greenbelt & Open Land:

There are no exceptional circumstance that would justify altering the boundaries of the green belt.

Environment & Design:

Policies on the design of urban areas must be based on some form of character assessment. We think its important that large developments are required to produce a design statement before work begins.

Transport:

• A transport hierarchy should be developed to give priority to pedestrians and cyclists, followed by public transport and finally private transport. All new development should have secure cycle parking as should existing transport interchanges (bus/train stations). All new development should be accessible by public transport.
• The UDP should not designate road options that are not included in the LTP (Local Transport Plan).
• It should not protect corridors which have little chance of coming to fruition.
• Enabling development should not fund roads.

Leisure, Open Space & Community Facilities:

We want the Douglas Valley Plan updated and integrated into the UDP.

Note: The UDP review process is a lengthy one. It is always important to become involved in this process at the earliest stage. It is too late once the diggers roll up in your local field to begin work!

Now is the time to scrutinise documents and find out what the Council's plan for the land is. This is Your Countryside.

For further information request a copy of CPRE's publication "A Campaigner's Guide to Local Plans" from CPRE National Office email: info@cpre.org.uk.

If you would like to volunteer to help us in our work to protect Wigan's countryside and greenbelt please contact ruralengland@btconnect.com.

Also, contact your local councillor and make your voice heard and join CPRE here to add weight to our campaign work.

The following article by S Day, CPRE Volunteer in Wigan.

A Local Campaigner's Perspective....

When you or developers apply to build, it is not the whim of the council planner who opens the letter that determines if the application is passed or rejected. The application is judged against policies in a vital planning document called the UDP. If the UDP says build 10,000 purple homes, and you want an extension, go out, buy the paint and promise the planner it will be purple. About every 10 years a new UDP is written. This is very serious business, towns can be born, and villages flattened for trunk roads. Millions of pounds in land property values and thousands of jobs depend on it.

To write this list of policies and draw the development maps in the UDP of what is to stay green and what is to be the next tip, the council are under an obligation to consult with the public. In our case a public meeting was arranged on the subject with the Director of Planning and Development, no less, at the local high school. Combining the meeting's topics of discussion with recent planning actions in the local area, I suspect most of the 100 or so who did attend, now think we have a UDP which runs something like this:

Housing,
We'll squeeze new houses in somewhere.

Environment,
Don't expect developments, particularly at green belt edges to be landscaped or sympathetic to the environment. It's too much trouble.

Green Belt,
Identify any prime Green Belt development sites owned by the council and relax the planning constraints.

Open Land,
We don't need footpaths, countryside, and views away from housing and traffic. Small patches of open land within housing estates will suffice for dog 'exercise'. Don't expect much though, we're not made of money.

Transport,
In case of questions about traffic levels 'blame the government'. In case of more persistent questions tell the population to 'stop wingeing' because it's the same everywhere.
Discourage pedestrians by phasing traffic lights to give them no hope. Fewer pedestrians, less problem. Tell people that altering the timing of traffic lights needs extensive periods of consultation rather than a screwdriver.
Improvement of the road environment for cyclists - Who?
Planning support for the creation of safe routes to school - Why?

Conservation,
Drown the Conservation areas with new flows of traffic congestion thereby destroying a civic space and community focus.

Leisure,
Long distance walking to find a playing field will increase the fitness level of the population.

Footpaths and Countryside Access,
Since the delay in re-opening footpaths is now greater than the life of the UDP, why bother.
Bridleways - cover them in tarmac if it helps get access for housing development on council land.

Traffic Calming,
Dangerous junctions reduce traffic speed thereby improving the overall traffic situation.

Waste Disposal,
The council aims to improve accessibility to local farm tracks to encourage the wide dispersal of 'fly tipped' waste.......

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