Residents say they can’t sell their homes due to the ‘cruise liner’ warehouse overshadowing them
The towering steel structure imposes itself over the semi-detached homes in Wigan(Image: Image from the MEN)
One of the councillors who opposed the ‘cruise liner’ warehouses overshadowing hundreds of homes in Tyldesley has called for a ‘robust change’ to the planning system following the outrage of local residents.
Independent Coun James Fish was standing on the Henfold Estate in front of one of partially built warehouses called for the Government and local council officials to ‘start getting into the real world’ when it comes to deciding whether planning applications should be approved or not.
A major gripe of the residents, as well as Coun Fish and his colleague Coun Stuart Gerrard, is that the effect a development has on the value of property nearby is not considered relevant in planning law.
He said: “If committees and officers are being told not to consider the potential of households losing the value of their homes, then we need to start getting into the real world.
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“We’ve got residents here who can’t sell their houses. We’ve got householders having to remortgage. We’ve got one particular resident who’s had to remortgage his house and pay Wigan council £63,000 because of shared ownership.
“So if he tries to sell his house, he’s already £63,000 out of pocket. He’s got two young children. It’s just not good enough.”
Coun James Fish, Independent
Coun Fish also believes planning officers’ recommendations – for approval or refusal of applications – should be removed.
He went on: “Committees should make a decision without a recommendation, because nine times out of 10 they will go along with the recommendation.”
Coun Fish said there needs to be [a greater] radius for residents living near a site to be notified and that members of the planning committee should visit all major applications.
The towering steel structure imposes itself over the semi-detached homes in Wigan. Families living in the shadow of an enormous warehouse say it feels like a “cruise ship” has landed in their back garden in Tyldesley, Wigan. The colossal steel frame, which is part of a 350,000 sq ft industrial site, looms over fences and hedges, dwarfing homes that stand just metres from the development
“There was no site visit here,” he said. “There was a request put in for a particular site visit, but the response was that no site visit was needed.
“Me and Stuart [Gerrard] speak regularly. We both share the same argument that this should never have been approved. We both objected to it and gave our reasons why.
“The main objection was the height of the buildings – 18.5 metres (60ft) – it doesn’t take a genius to work that out on a piece of paper -that it’s twice the size of a particular house.
The towering steel structure imposes itself over the semi-detached homes in Wigan(Image: SWNS)
“Another was close proximity to particular houses, again. We raised light pollution, noise pollution, traffic. There’s a massive, long list.
“Again, officers just came back and said all the relevant authorities had been asked for their input, they didn’t have any objections, so there was no reason not to approve the application.
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“Quite a few of my colleagues on the planning committee just didn’t ask the right questions for me.
“You’ve got to feel for the residents because no one wants to be living next to this monstrosity. It’s just ridiculous in scale. No one wants to live next door to something this size.”