'Serious questions need to be asked': Site earmarked for new primary school lost

A site earmarked for a new primary school has been lost because planners failed to acquire land promised by a developer. Bolton Council’s chair of planning said he was ‘absolutely appalled’ that the authority was having to relinquish its rights to a large plot of land within the Beaumont Rise housing development.

A meeting of the council’s planning committee heard the issue centred around a housing scheme near Wigan Road and Hulton Lane, which was originally approved in 1988, and built over the next 15 years. There was a legal agreement within the planning conditions to transfer 1.5 hectares of the development site to the council for a one-form entry primary school.

However, that agreed land transfer did not happen. At the time the plot was described as ‘land lying between Knutshaw Bridge and Everbrom Road’.

This year, the landowner, Jones Homes, sought legal advice on the situation and now claims that the land transfer agreement does not satisfy current legal requirements for planning obligations as the transfer was not necessary. They also claim the obligation was no longer enforceable given the time passed.

Chair of planning, Coun John Walsh, said: “I am absolutely appalled that a site of 1.55 hectares which should have been in the ownership of this authority was never actually transferred. It is not the only site where this situation has arisen.

“We are losing land as a consequence of failure. The question I’ve asked officers is how many other sites have been lost to this authority by failure to implement a policy or a condition attached by committee for all the right reasons? Some serious questions need to be answered.”

Coun David Grant, told the meeting: “When I first saw this my immediate answer was ‘no – go away’. How can an agreement that was made under the rules at that time now be undone.

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“It’s like me going back to somebody who bought my house and saying ‘actually it’s gone up in value, can you pay me a bit more’. This should be our property.

“You know a new planning application is going to come forward from this landowner – you can just see it. I’m not agreeing to this – I think it’s wrong and should be challenged.” The committee voted by a majority to implement a deed of cancellation on the agreement.