Phase two of a 830-home development in Atherton has been given the go-ahead despite objections from 100 residents and independent councillors who have warned the estate’s only access road would become ‘gridlocked’. Wigan’s planning committee has approved the ‘reserved matters’ application for the 170 homes on land east of Leigh Road and south-west of Bee Fold Lane and west of Millers Lane. Councillors were told the principle of development on the site had been established in an ‘outline application’ in 2020 and therefore issues over the main access road on Crab Tree Lane were NOT under consideration, as its viability had already been decided.
But independent councillors and members of the Friends of Crab Tree Lane group put up arguments against the use of Crab Tree Lane, arguing that members of the committee should visit the site before making their final decision. Objectors argue that even now Crab Tree Lane which leads from the site to a roundabout already gets choked up with traffic. Independent Network Coun Stuart Gerrard, who represents Atherton North, was voted down in his attempt to get colleagues to visit the site to see the issues for themselves.
He told colleagues: “I’m beginning to wonder why we sit here on this committee. “I’m fed up of being told we can’t look at this and we can’t look at that. It makes me wonder why we come here sometimes.
” Cllr Gerrard referred to a video shot by a member of the Friends of Crab Tree Lane which he s.