Chew Moor Lane, Westhoughton, Bolton
Public Consultation
Welcome
You are invited to share your views on Persimmon Homes North West’ proposals for a high-quality residential development on land at Chew Moor Lane, Westhoughton, Bolton.
The site, approximately 9.4 hectares in size, is located on land at Chew Moor Lane, Westhoughton, Bolton. The development will help deliver much-needed new homes to support Bolton’s housing requirements, including affordable homes for the local community.
Persimmon Homes North West is proposing a range of high quality dwellings suitable for families, young professionals and older residents. The development would include affordable homes, public open space, a play area, and associated infrastructure to create a sustainable and attractive environment.
Our vision is to develop a scheme that is sympathetic to the character of the site, whilst also creating a high-quality, walkable neighbourhood which is sustainable and well connected to local services and the wider community.
Your views are important to us
Your comments are important to us and form part of the public consultation process for finalising the development proposals.
This website is supplemented by a leaflet which has been distributed to local residents and councillors which summarises the proposals and directs them to this website and the consultation email address below.
This online consultation will run between Friday 21 November and Friday 12 December, however we will continue to review comments received up until submission.
If you would like to get in touch with the Project Team with any queries or to request the information in an alternative format, please provide comments via the email address below:
chewmoorconsultation@pegasusgroup.co.uk
Thank you for viewing the proposals. We look forward to hearing from you.
About Persimmon Homes
Persimmon Homes is one of the UK’s leading homebuilders, with quality and customer service at its heart, building the best value homes on the market in sustainable and inclusive communities. We are committed to the highest standards of design, construction and service. Persimmon has been recognised by the Home Builders Federation as a 5 Star Housebuilder on its 2024 New Homes Customer Satisfaction Survey.
The Site
The Site is approximately 9.4 hectares and is located adjacent to the north-eastern edge of Westhoughton. It is currently in agricultural use, comprising of two field parcels separated by a farm access track running west to east. The field parcels are then subdivided by fencing into a number of horse paddocks.
The Site will be accessed by pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles in a safe and sustainable manner via two separate access points from Chew Moor Lane to the west of each field parcel. The Site benefits from good existing public transport infrastructure in the vicinity of the Site as well as convenient pedestrian and cycle links from the Site to the centre of Westhoughton.
Site Sustainability
The Site is in a sustainable location close to several key services and facilities in Westhoughton including primary schools, healthcare facilities and convenience stores.
The nearest bus stops are situated on Chew Moor Lane, along the western boundary of the Site, and offer connections between Westhoughton and Bolton. Among these is the stop opposite Abbeylea Drive, which is served by routes 520, 905, 930, and 943.
Route 520 runs every 30 minutes to Bolton via Ladybridge, while the other routes are school services operating daily to Canon Slade High School, Bolton College, and St James’ School. Additional stops can be found to the south along Bolton Road.
Planning Context
This site is within the Green Belt and through our own assessments is considered to be entirely Grey Belt land.
Bolton Borough is currently experiencing a housing shortfall, with the latest published position (dating back to 2021) demonstrating 3.9 years' supply of deliverable housing sites against a national requirement of at least 5 years' supply. This equates to a shortfall of between 863 and 1,037 homes over the next five years.
This position is even worse when set against the government’s revised 'Standard Method' for calculating local housing need. In the case of Bolton, the new Standard Method housing requirement is 1,184 new homes per year (and has since increased to 1,236 under the latest 2024 affordability ratios and stock data).
When this requirement is applied to Bolton’s current housing supply, it reduces the Council's housing land position to a maximum of 2.6 years, or a shortfall of around 3,500 dwellings.
Whilst the site is not identified as a draft allocation in the Draft Bolton Local Plan, it is entirely suitable for residential development having been assessed as Grey Belt. Persimmon Homes are actively promoting the site as a suitable housing allocation; however, the Bolton Local Plan is still some time away from adoption.
Given the existing and continued need for this site to start delivering new homes, including affordable homes, it represents a logical choice for a planning application at this time to support the Council’s housing land supply for the delivery of both market and affordable homes.