The much-debated, long-discussed bid to host the tournament at the Hulton Park development was one of several topics brought up in a recent visit by mayoral hopeful Bev Craig to the town.

She had been addressing a roundtable meeting with business and charity leaders alongside council leader Cllr Akhtar Zaman and Bolton South and Walkden MP Yasmin Qureshi.

Cllr Craig, who currently leads Manchester City Council, said: “We’ve got the backing of the government who are going to put some money behind the Ryder Cup bid.

“We’ve got the backing of our MPs and we know that Bolton is the only bid that the government will back.”

The Hulton Park project includes an 18-hole luxury golf course (Image: Peel Land)

She added: “The feeling is if we can get the BRITS out of London and into Manchester, we can get the Ryder Cup up to Bolton.”

As it stands, Bolton is bidding to host the historic tournament in 2035 at the much-debated Hulton Park development in Over Hulton.

The luxury golf course and housing scheme was given the go-ahead by government inspectors in October 2022, who overturned Bolton Council planning committee’s refusal of the bid.

Bev Craig hopes to be elected as Mayor of Greater Manchester (Image: Phil Taylor)

In November last year, developers Peel then put forward plans for up to 1,450 homes, a 15-acre public park, and the proposed Park Avenue link road in Westhoughton.

They said this would be separate from the Hulton Park golf course development but would run alongside it.

Labour’s Cllr Craig is currently standing to replace Andy Burnham as Mayor of Greater Manchester after his election as MP for Makerfield.

Bev Craig with Bolton Council leader Cllr Akhtar Zaman, former council leader Nick Peel and various business and charity leaders (Image: Phil Taylor)

Mr Burnham is widely expected to replace the outgoing Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister within a matter of weeks.

Cllr Craig said that if elected as Mayor of the city region she will continue to back the bid to bring the Ryder Cup to Bolton and that it will be strongly associated with the borough throughout.

She said: “It’s not the Ryder Cup somewhere near Manchester, it’s Bolton’s Ryder Cup, that’s really important.”

Cllr Craig said that she and Mr Burnham, during his time as Mayor, had heard much about the need for a bypass in Westhoughton to help deal with traffic concerns.

Speaking after the meeting, she said it was right that the developers and council had worked to address concerns that people had had which led to the initial refusal of the Hulton Park plans.

Cllr Craig said: “It’s really important of course that no one in Bolton should feel uncomfortable in their communities.”

Also standing are Reform UK’s Sian Astley, the Green Party’s Geraldine Goggins, Conservative Phil Eckersley, independent Marcus Farmer, Liberal Democrat Richard Kilpatrick and Restore UK’s Marlon West.

The election will be held on July 30.