Vistry says it wants to create ‘well-planned new neighbourhood’
Vistry’s housing plans for North Leigh Park(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Detailed plans have been submitted for a new community of 1,491 homes and a section of trunk road at North Leigh Park.
Outline permission for up to 1,700 homes at the site was approved in 2013 but a new planning application lodged with Wigan council in the past few days gives details of the layout, appearance, landscaping and scale of the majority of the proposed development.
Two parts of the wider site have previously been developed. The first close to Nel Pan Lane where 87 homes were created on either side of the new estate road by Countryside Properties in 2021.
The second is a development of 99 homes on the northern edge of the site which is accessed from Tiverton Avenue. That phase was brought forward by Bellway Homes.
A design and access statement has been published on the council’s planning portal on behalf of developer Vistry Group.
The report said: “The vision for North Leigh Park is to deliver a sustainable, well-connected and attractive new development for Wigan.
“It will deliver part of the new strategically significant highway infrastructure required to connect junction 5 of M61 with junction 26 of the M6.”
North Leigh Park is 2.6km to the north-west of Leigh town centre. Westleigh High School to the south-east of the site.
It is to the east of the A578 (Leigh Road) and covers a huge 178-acres. The site has an industrial past used for coal mining, sand extraction quarrying, industrial waste management operations, a scrap yard and a sewage treatment.
Vistry’s North Leigh Park development site(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
The report added: “The application for approval relates to 68 hectares of the site. The proposed development parcels have been designed to strategically avoid highly contaminated areas.
“This approach ensures that land is redeveloped in an appropriate way to ensure the protection of future occupiers.
“It comprises the residual area of the site which remains undeveloped and includes the link road.”
That road would connect Leigh Road (A578) to Atherleigh Way (A579). The site was recently announced as one of six priority housing locations selected for the Government’s New Homes Accelerator programme, aimed at overcoming planning barriers and accelerating the delivery of new affordable homes and supporting infrastructure.
Speaking in January, Matthew Parkes, managing director, Vistry Manchester and Cheshire East, said: “We are pleased to be bringing forward the next phases of North Leigh Park and continuing to work with Wigan Council, the Government and the local community to deliver much-needed new homes in this part of the borough.
“This is a significant opportunity to prevent a complex former industrial site becoming a long-term environmental problem and instead turn it into a well-planned new neighbourhood, with new homes, green spaces, local facilities and improved connections.”
The council will decide on the plans in the coming weeks.
To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your community, visit the Public Notices Portal.