SAVE HULTON PARK

The current Planning Proposal to develop Hulton Park will affect you

After the Public Inquiry commencing on 1 October 2019, the decision of the Government Inspector will affect you, your children and generations to come.

 

Traffic is already heavily congested in the area around Hulton Park

The Developer plans to build 1,036 home on Hulton Park – how much more congestion will that cause? Approximately 2.6 cars more cars per home.

 

Logistics North at Cutacre is already causing increased congestion with heavy goods vehicles and the second GMSF Draft supports extending Logistics North. It also proposes a further large Logistics Park at Wingates and a smaller one between Chequerbent Roundabout and Junction 5 of the M61 which are Green Belt sites.

 

The A6 Corridor is likely to become gridlocked in a few years time.

 

The local infrastructure is insufficient

In addition to the extra traffic, 1,036 homes will likely bring 1,036 families to an area where the infrastructure can barely cope as it currently stands. The essential services of Doctors, Dentists, Schools and Hospitals are already stretched to capacity.

 

Air pollution will be increased

The Developer proposes to cut down 23 acres of mature trees and remove nearly 3 km of hedgerows, all of which naturally extract pollutants from the air, hence the potential increase in air pollution will most likely lead to an increase in poor respiratory health.

 

According to Asthma UK, long term exposure to high concentrations of air pollution can cause asthma in children.

 

Flood risk will be increased

Each mature tree drinks about 50 gallons of water from the ground per day. The elevation of the land on Hulton Park means excess ground water will run to the South.

 

The South East part of Hulton Park is already designated as a High Flood Risk area.

 

Build on brown field first

The planned housing will mostly be of executive style with only 10% being “affordable.”

 

There are plenty of brown field sites in the area which could be utilised to provide needed housing requirements. Continually building on Green Belt creates “urban sprawl.”

 

Bolton Council policy is to build on brown field sites first in order to renovate and restore them to useful and pleasing areas.

 

In the second draft of the GMSF, Bolton Council’s policy is that there will be no houses built on Green Belt, which includes Hulton Park.

 

Public wellbeing

Green space leads to the well being of the population, “urban sprawl” leads to anxiety and depression. The developer plans to remove ten public rights of way from Hulton Park, re-aligning them to pass through the proposed housing,  i.e. “The Hulton Trail,” which will not resemble the countryside in any way.

 

Destruction of working farms

The hard working tenant farmers and their families will be thrown off Hulton Park, losing their homes, livelihood and their livestock disposed of, thus ending many generations of farming.

​

Wildlife habitat will be devastated

Numerous recognised wildlife bodies state removal of Green Belt wildlife habitat and corridors will leave nowhere for the wildlife to go, many of which are classed as endangered species.

 

All the above points, if approved by the Secretary of State, will lead to huge profits for the developer and a significant loss in our quality of life and community.

​

Please join HEART and please give a donation, however much you can afford. Even a small donation will make a big difference.  Help HEART meet legal and professional witness fees in defending Hulton Park from devastation.