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PROOF OF EVIDENCE

RUTH DUCKWORTH

ON BEHALF OF SWAN

PLANNING APPEAL No app/n4205/a/99/1033664

Industrial development (B1, B2 & B8)

Land South Park Road, Westhoughton
  1. Introduction
    2.
    1. My name is Ruth Duckworth and I have a B A Honours Degree in Geography from Leeds University. I have been Head of Geography at three 11-18 comprehensive schools in the area – Rivington and Blackrod High School, Horwich (1969 –1977), Westhoughton High School (1977-1983) and Canon Slade School, NE Bolton (1983 -.). I specialise in the teaching of human geography to "A" level standard and over the last 31 years have built up knowledge of the local area through this teaching. I have been a resident of Westhoughton for 23 years and am a member of S W A N.
    2. In my proofs of evidence I aim to show that the development of the Chequerbent site will be of limited benefit to the people of Westhoughton and these benefits will be outweighed by the environmental effects of the development.
    3. I will demonstrate that Bolton had other opportunities to provide large sites for inward investors and for local firms requiring expansion and the inward investment is unlikely to be attracted to Chequerbent.
    4. I will also show that Bolton still has room to accommodate local firms on existing sites, identifying sites which have recently become available in the Bolton area and brownfield sites in the inner urban area who’s development would aid urban regeneration as emphasized in government guidelines. I will show that such developments will take place in areas with good public transport and close to areas of relatively high unemployment, thus benefiting those people in a way that the Chequerbent development would not.
    5. Finally I will show that employment opportunities for Bolton residents exist in other authority areas, this offsetting the need for more land in Bolton, and that any further development of sites located in open space in the West of Bolton would reduce the environmental quality of Westhoughton and the surrounding area and would outweigh any advantages from economic development.
  2. THE ECONOMIC EFFECT ON THE LOCAL AREA
    3.
    1. The supporting statement to the planning application 54859/99 (Para 5.1) states that the development at Chequerbent will provide a substantial number of jobs. John Entwistle, chairman of Bolton Wide, states (Annex 6, letter to BEN 14/1/2000) "It’s my view that the development would bring many benefits to the people of Westhoughton in the form of new opportunities for employment, more money circulating in the local economy and, not least, from improved roads which will mean, that less industrial traffic will need to use Park Road".
    2. The Bolton Wide brochure states that the vision of the Bolton Wide sites is to develop a total of 80 hectares of land with 4 million square feet of new floor space providing 5000 jobs.
    3. The Traffic Impact Assessment of May 1999 (para 8.1.1.) assumes the development of approximately 30% of the Chequerbent site for floor space. A figure of 60,000 square metres is quoted and this translates to approximately 16% of the 4 million square feet quoted by WIDE. 16% of their anticipated 5000 jobs give a figure of 800 for the Chequerbent site.
    4. The adopted Bolton UDP 1995 in appendix 4 identifies Chequerbent as employment site 17E, a site reserved for the development of a high quality business park. However planning application 54859/99 refers to the erection of business uses B1, B2 and B8. The use classes order defines B8 uses as wholesale warehouses, distribution centres, repositories. PPG4, paragraph 12, states that some types of modern distribution facility have a low density of employment. This suggests that B8 use on the site will reduce the number of jobs created.
    5. The 1995 DTZ report, which provides a formula for calculating work to floor spaces densities, further confirms this view.

      6. CLASS

      RANGE OF EMPLOYEES

      PER 10,000 SQFT

      B1

      20 - 58

      B2 –7

      13 - 32

      B8

      7 - 20

    6. A survey of a variety of local firms (Annex 1) provides another way of estimating number of jobs generated.

    These averages would produce projected job creation figures on the Chequerbent site of 582 and for the 11 firms quoted and 550 for Hitachi.
      1. The survey of 10 small companies also indicated that only 46% of the employees live in the local area. Hi Tech industries employ highly skilled, well-qualified labour and the % of employees living in the local area is likely to be even lower from jobs generated on the Chequerbent site.
      2. The supporting statement to the planning application, paras 4.1 – 4.3 points out that job losses have taken place in some of the older industrial sectors and are expected to continue, and that development of new businesses on this site will assist in the continuing transition, providing employment in "growth" industries.
      3. The annual employment survey for Bolton, 1997 (Annex 9) confirms that the manufacturing sector saw a decrease from 25.0% to 23.5% between 1995 –7 whilst the % of service industries increased slightly from 69.5% to 69.7% in the same period. However the figures show that the distribution, hotel and restaurant sector employed nearly 1/3rd of Bolton’s workforce, nearly half of them in the retail sector.
      4. The BEN article 1999 (Annex 10) confirms that most of the growth occurred in the retail and leisure industries, with 800 jobs being created in pubs alone from 1997-99. There is no evidence to suggest that Bolton is attracting "growth" industries likely to locate on the Chequerbent site.
      5. The supporting statement to the planning application, Para 4.2, states that the Bolton Wards of Westhoughton and Hulton Park experienced large increases in unemployment from December 1998 to January 1999, with the figure for Westhoughton increasing by over 14% and Hulton Park by almost 30%.
      6. The Bolton Economic Bulletin No 152, December 1999, (Annex 11) quotes the % unemployment rate in December 1999 as 2.2% for Westhoughton and 1.6% for Hulton Park, figures well below the Bolton average of 4.1% and the average for G.B of 3.9%. The total numbers of people unemployed are also low – 117 for Westhoughton and 121 for Hulton Park. From December 1998 to December 1999 the number of unemployed increased by 43 in Westhoughton but Hulton Park’s actually decreased by 1. Westhoughton’s unemployment rate therefore increased by 0.8% in that period whilst Hulton Park’s remained stable. The unemployment rates in those wards are actually so low that I may be difficult to recruit labour from them for new industries.
      7. It is difficult to see how the development of this site would produce any significant difference to the amount of money circulating in the local economy. Any business income for the council will benefit the Bolton area generally rather than the Westhoughton area in particular.
      8. The number of jobs created is likely to be small and taken up by only a small number of local people. The site lies approximately 2km from the town centre and therefore employees are unlikely to walk into the centre to use the facilities. Lunch hours tend to be brief and shift hours may be worked so that refreshments are usually provided on site. The facilities in Westhoughton town centre are mostly low order services serving everyday needs and employees are far more likely to use facilities close to their home rather than their place of work.
      9. It is also unlikely that linkages would be created with other businesses in the local economy other than short term ones produced in the construction of the park.
    1. THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS ON THE BOLTON AREA.
      2.
      1. In the supporting statement to the planning application, Para 4.8 states that the "Review of Industrial Land Resources, Bolton" undertaken for the council by consultants in 1997, identified the Chequerbent site as a flagship site for the Borough – a Category A site of strategic importance.
      2. The Review (Annex 12, Page 6) identified these as sites of a scale, location and setting capable of competing for inward investment projects from overseas or elsewhere in the UK. These sites are thus weighted towards the inward investment market and capable of competing with a wider geographic area.
      3. The supporting statement to the planning application, Para 4.7, states that the Chequerbent site represents the only opportunity to locate major investors. It is the only large site available over 10 hectares. However the land resources review (Annex 12, Page 11) identified 5 flagship sites including Wingates Frontage and Middlebrook as well as Chequerbent.
      4. 52.6 hectares of employment land was originally allocated in the UDP at Middlebrook but all but 14 hectares was released for mixed leisure, retail and residential developments, leaving a much-reduced area for industrial and office floor space allocation. Bearing in mind that there is a lack of large sites in Bolton, the Review (Annex 12, Page 29) describes this as a strategic opportunity much reduced in scale by a substantial commitment to retail and commercial leisure activities.
      5. An assumption is made that sites of over 10 hectares (24.7 acres) are needed to attract inward investment. A survey carried out for the 1997 Review (Annex 12, Page 26) does suggest that the size of site increase sequentially from local enquires through to Greater Manchester, the NW, the UK and overseas. However NW enquires average only 6.5 acres (2.63 hectares) the UK 7 acres (2.83 hectares) and overseas 10 acres (4 hectares).
      6. On this basis a number of WIDE sites would be able to accommodate inward investment including Middlebrook (6.6ha), Parklands (5.7ha), Wingates (6.4ha) Long Lane (9.16ha).
      7. These all meet the other criteria defined for flagship sites in the Review (Annex 12, Page6). They are mostly greenfield sites with high quality environments, with an infrastructure in place, with planning permission and with motorway links and accessibility by bus and rail.
      8. The recent decision by British Aerospace to sell 15 hectares of their land, although a mix of a greenfield and brownfield site, fulfils the criteria specified above.
      9. There are a number of other reasons why it is difficult to see inward investment being attracted to Chequerbent.
      10. The 1997 Review (Annex 12, Page 25) suggests that the trend is for M61 sites to serve local markets whereas M6/M62 sites eg at Warrington attract national markets.
      11. The NW Development Agency was set up to provide a unified voice for the North West. "England’s North West: a strategy towards 2020" (Annex 13, page 5, Para 1.11) identifies as a priority the need to work with the Regional Assembly and go NW to develop a short list of key and strategic sites for investment over the next 6 years. These are sites of regional significance and included in the list of 11 sites are places like Daresbury Park, Runcorn, Omega 600 Warrington, Cuerden Regional Business Park, Preston and the Royal Ordnance Factory, Chorley. It is difficult to see how Chequerbent can compete regionally with sites like Daresbury Park (Annex 14), a greenfield site of 222 acres (90 hectares) in a high quality environment 50 metres from Junction 11 of the M56, 20 minutes from Manchester Airport and 8km from the M6. This site has planning permission and qualifies for EU funding. Sites in Liverpool are also identified, an area that qualifies for Objective 1 funding.
      12. John Entwistle, chairman of Bolton Wide States that the Chequerbent site is recognised by the NW Regional Assembly as a regionally significant employment site (Annex15, letter to Wendy Fox 18/6/99). In 1996 Inward, on behalf of the NW Regional Association, published their Regional Sites Portfolio, which identifies strategic sites in the NW in excess of 8 ha (Annex 12, Page 19). However the NW Regional Assembly indicates (Annex 16,Letter from Mrs A Howarth to NW Assembly 11/10/99) that whilst the site was identified in such listings it was never formally recognised in the existing RPG13. It also states that the ongoing review of RPG 13 is unlikely at this stage to identify the location of any individual strategic site. Bolton and Chequerbent receive no mention in the 2020 NW strategy plan from the NWDA.
      13. John Entwistle states (Annex 17 letter to BEN July 1999) that all towns need a range of sites to have somewhere for successful companies to grow and prosper and that there are local companies based in the W Side of the Borough who are currently searching for locations for new investment but there are no sites available for them.
      14. The 1997 Review (Annex 12, Page 26) undertook a survey which showed that 50% of Bolton firms were seeking sites of less than 1 acre (0.4ha) and that only 3 enquires were for sites of more than 2acres (0.8ha).
      15. A survey of Bolton Wide greenfield sites and adjoining areas (annex 2) showed that space was still available on these sites eg Long Lane is still a greenfield site, Network 61, Lostock has "to let design & build signs", Parklands has 2 new units for sale or to let, Wingates has land for sale and units to let or buy.
      16. Land has also become available on brownfield sites on the M61 corridor as a result of industries contracting or shutting down.
      17. Work has recently begun on a scheme to turn the former Horwich Locomotive Works into a modern business park (Annex 2 a) Rivington House will be refurbished to provide office workspace and there will also be a range of sizes of units for B1, B2 and B8 uses for small and medium sized businesses. The 1st phase of refurbishment began in February 2000 with the help of a £100,000 grant from the European Development Fund.
      18. British Aerospace at Lostock (Annex 2 d) recently took the decision to sell off 35 acres (14 ha) of land and disused buildings no longer needed for their operations. A European grant of £1.1m has been made to pay for the demolition of old buildings and to set up the infrastructure, which would allow the development of new factories and offices. This site was not available when employment land now designated in the UDP. It is a large site (over 10ha) with excellent access to junction 6 of the M61.
      19. The Bolton Industrial Property Register for February 2000 lists lands and units available for use in Bolton. Annex 4 summarises this information
      20. The total amount of land available is 23.93 acres where sizes are given but other areas exist that are not shown on the register eg

        21. Raikes Clough in the Croal/Irwell Valley

        Former Bolton Greyhound Track

        High St / Bridgman St
      21. The total amount of industrial floor space available in existing buildings or on industrial estates comes to 1,257,778 sq feet or 11.68 hectares. In addition there are 26 properties on the list-offering units from 370 –15,000 sq feet but the total available space is not given
      22. Most of the industrial estates are category B sites and they are well distributed throughout the borough (Annex 18).
      23. In addition there are a number of smaller sites located in inner urban Bolton and Farnworth or the Tonge Valley. The 1997 review (Annex12, Pg 8) noted that they were mostly Category C Sites, and small in size. Only 2 were larger than 2 hectares. The survey of enquires had shown, however, that most local firms wanted sites of less than 0.4ha.
      24. There is evidence that some firms are moving from these brownfield sites and units to other new sites in the borough eg the Richard Threlfall Group from Bridgeman Place to a modern industrial unit in Lynstock Way, Lostock (Annex 19). In other cases firms are closing and buildings put up for sale eg Dove Mill owned by the Littlewoods organisation (Annex 20).
      25. The 1997 review (Annex 12) states that there is a danger of relocating firms from Inner Bolton to the new sites because it will leave behind vacant or underused premises. Many of these are old buildings eg mills and the review states that more use should be made of them. Attempts should also be made to accommodate firms in their existing places.
      26. PPG4, para 21, also states "optimum use should be made of potential sites and existing premises in inner cities and other urban areas. Getting this land back into beneficial use is important to the regeneration of towns and cities". The 1997 review concludes (Annex 12, pg 29/30) that a search should be undertaken to identify redundant or under-utilised buildings where demolition could release land for new development. It also suggests that the Burnden Park and Greyhound Stadium sites could be used to create a new employment area readily accessible form St Peters Way (A666).
      27. The advantage of developing brownfield sites is that they are often located in areas with the highest unemployment rates (Annex 21 Map) but with a sound infrastructure. The 1997 Review (Annex 12) states that 93% of these sites were located with ½ mile of prime traffic routes which meant that they were easily accessible by public transport, the bus routes tending to follow the radial roads into the town centre (Annex 21 map).
      28. This fits in with the PPG4, para 21 statement that optimum use should be made of sites and premises in inner urban areas, taking into account such factors as accessibility by public transport, particularly in the case of labour intensive use.
      29. Both Bolton’s "Vision For The Future" (Annex22) and Bolton wide (Annex 23, BEN June 1999) state that social considerations come into the need for the Chequerbent site. They will ensure that transport links are good enough to link new factories and offices with the town’s high unemployment black spots. There is no evidence of such good links emerging. The quality bus corridor being developed from Leigh to Bolton via Four Lane Ends requires another bus or a long walk of 1.2 miles. Bus routes with frequent services exist from Chequerbent to Bolton via Deane (540, 542) and Daubhill (559) but other areas are not well served and some unemployment black spots eg Breightmet would require 2 buses and result in an hour long journey. The Bolton Wide sites in general are not well located to serve the deprived areas of Bolton using public transport because of their position in the W of the Borough. Rail links exist but are not helpful. Westhoughton station is on the Wigan – Bolton line but requires a walk of 1.4 miles to Platt Lane and 1.7 miles to the Chequerbent roundabout (Annex5). Daisy Hill is slightly nearer but is on the Wigan–Atherton-Manchester line that bypasses Bolton.
      30. The Review (Annex 12, pg 30) also suggested that 6 hectacres of land might be used for employment purposes at Singing Clough, east of the A666 link road. The site was previously a Greater Manchester tip and landfill site and is know to have methane emission problems. Nevertheless it is in an area where demand for developers is know to be high because of its location close to the A666/M61 axis, which in turn connects with the M62 (Annex 12,pg 25). This development would also provide jobs in S Bolton, an area with relatively high levels of unemployment.
    2. ECONOMIC GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL GOOD SENSE
      1. PPG4, para 1 states that one of the government’s key aims is to encourage continued economic development in a way, which is compatible with its stated environmental objectives. Economic growth and a high quality environment have to be pursued together.
      2. The Environment White Paper "This Common Inheritance" emphasized this relationship when it said that economic growth is not an end in itself. It provides us with the means to lead better and fuller lives. There is no contradiction in arguing both for economic growth and for environmental good sense. The challenge is to integrate the two.
      3. Bolton has a particular problem in that it has a lower provision of employment land than surrounding boroughs and towns of similar population. The Review (Annex 12, pg 19) revealed that Bolton lay 6th out of 10, Greater Manchester authorities in terms of strategic sites of over 8 hectares and 5th in terms of numbers immediately available. It was also significantly behind most boroughs in the amount of land provided with Wigan and Rochdale having 4 and 3 times as much land respectively. It also compared unfavourably with authorities like Preston/South Ribble (3 times the area) Halton (21/2 times) Blackburn (over twice as much).
      4. The Review (Annex 12, pg27) also identifies the average annual take up rate of land in Bolton as 8 hectares between 1990-1995. This suggests a forward supply of 5 years or 8.5 years if future development is included.
      5. The consequences of this are that Bolton is seeking to expand its supply of employment land. Problems arise as a result.
      6. Most new sites can only realistically be developed along the M61 corridor to the West, an area of open space and green belt. This will remove much of the open space between Bolton and Horwich and Bolton and Westhoughton. However these sites are also not easily accessible to other parts of Bolton and to many of the areas of high unemployment they are connected only to C and W Bolton by public transport (Annex 21).
      7. Because Bolton is surrounded by unitary authorities also trying to improve their supply of employment opportunities, sites have also grown up to the N of Bolton (Shadsworth, Blackburn) to the E (Pilsworth Industrial Estate) and the NW Lancashire Enterprise Park at Leyland.
      8. This means that people in other parts of Bolton find it relatively easy to find employment in areas which are close to them but outside the Bolton Borough boundary.
      9. If Bolton seeks to increase their supply of employment opportunities there is a danger of duplicating provision, which already exists in surrounding areas. Many of these sites have already developed an infrastructure, acquired planning permission and built units but vacancies still exist. They tend to be located on the M6/M65/M66/M62 network. (Annex 3 – survey of sites within 25 miles of Bolton)
      10. Industrial development is market driven and attracted to greenbelt sites close to motorway network. However this leads to concentration of development in certain locations and environmental effects tend to be forgotten or ignored (Review Annex 12, Pg 23).
      11. There is also a danger that town like Westhoughton, which lies on the borders of several boroughs are likely to become surrounded by industrial estates when each unitary authority works independently of the others. Where supply exceeds demand these units will remain vacant or underused. This does not appear to equate with the aims listed in PPG4 Para 1.
      12. The 1997 Review (Annex 12,pg 28) also states that there is a need to recognize that the supply of sites is not always an argument about quality, it is also about quality and choice and in this respect Bolton’s land resource is superior to that of other studied locations.
      13. Chequerbent was identified in the UDP, appendix 4, as a unique site because its size allowed it to develop as the site of a high quality business park, implying a development of high environmental quality.
      14. However the planning application refers to B1, B2 and B8 usage, which suggests that such a development, is not guaranteed. If this were to be the case then the Chequerbent site should differ little from the other WIDE greenfield sites in anything other than area of space taken up by development and an attractive environmental development could not then be guaranteed.

    Annex 1 A Survey of local firms in Westhoughton area.

    Annex 2 Bolton Wide sites – description and photographs
      1. Horwich Locomotive Works
      2. Middlebrook
      3. Parklands
      4. British Aerospace, Lostock
      5. Network 61
      6. Wingates
      7. Long Lane
      8. Chequerbent
      9. Adjoining Sites
      10. A summary of Bolton Wide sites

    Annex 3 Sites within 25 miles of Chequerbent
      1. Summary of sites within 25 miles of Chequerbent
      2. Lancashire Enterprise Park
      3. Royal Ordnance Factory, Chorley
      4. Walker Industrial Park, Blackburn
      1. Shadsworth Business Park
      2. Chapels Park Development
      3. Heywood Industrial Estate
      1. Pilsworth Industrial Estate

    Annex 4 Figures from the Bolton Industrial Property Register February 2000.

    Annex 5 Distances of local train stations from the Chequerbent site.

    Annex 6 Letter to BEN January 14 2000 from John Entwistle.

    Annex 7 Traffic Impact Assessment May 1999

    Annex 8 BEN article on Hitachi

    Annex 9 a) Annual Employment Survey 1997

    Annex 10 BEN article on employment figures 1999

    Annex 11 Bolton Economic Bulletin No 152 December 1999

    Annex 12 Review of Industrial Land Resources, Bolton, Bolton Metro and

    Business Environments February 1997, Pg 4,6,2-12,14-15,18-21,23-30

    Annex 13 Extract from "England’s North West: A Strategy towards 2020" NWDA

    Annex 14 Daresbury Park, Runcorn.

    Annex 15 Letter from John Entwistle to Wendy Fox 18/6/99

    Annex 16 Letter from Mrs A Howarth to NW Regional Assembly 11/10/99

    Annex 17 Letter from John Entwistle, chairman of Bolton Wide to BEN July 1999

    Annex 18 Map of Bolton industrial estates and areas

    Annex 19 Threlfalls new century move January 2000 BEN

    Annex 20 Famous old mill is on the market BEN November 1999

    Annex 21 Map of unemployment rates and number of unemployed by ward December 1999 & main roads in the Bolton area

    Annex 22 Bolton "Vision for the Future2 BEN 1999

    Annex 23 Article on Bolton Wide BEN June 1999

    Annex 24 Article on Singing Clough BEN 1999

    Annex 25 Map showing distances from the two stations to the site

    Annex 26 Map of Bolton Wide Sites

    Annex 27 The Industrial Lane Resource December 1997

    MARCH 2000

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