1. My name is Tommy Howarth I am 46 years old and I have lived in Westhoughton all of that time, I live on Fairhaven Ave which is just off Park Rd I have three children Carly aged 16, Caroline aged 12 and Steven aged 10 I am a member of the SWAN committee currently holding the post of media coordinator.
2. In the last 20+ years I have seen Westhoughton's green fields disappear and more and more houses being built till it truly can not take anymore, then came the straw to broke the camels back when I read about the proposed development of an Industrial estate at Chequerbent. This area of land my family and I use every day, my son Steven is visually impaired and the Chequerbent Recreation Ground is the only safe place that we can play football also my family and I walk the dog over these fields because it is the only area round our way where we can get away for a hour or so and let our dog run free and enjoy all the different species of wildlife on the fields and in the ponds, they learn more about nature over these fields than in any book.
3. Also with living off Park Rd if I want to turn right into Westhoughton I find it nearly impossible because of the sheer volume of traffic so I end up turning left and going via White Horse and down Bolton Rd so if this development went ahead the roads round here simply could not handle it, and it is no use saying that heavy goods vehicles would use the M 61 because Park Rd is already full of them park rd has already collapsed twice in the last few years because the road couldn't take the weight and volume of traffic that uses it, and at rush hours the traffic is backed up from Platt lane to the chequerbent roundabout and to the M61, there have been many car accidents on this road and the emergency vehicles really struggle to get to the scene of the accident.
4. Park Rd is also the main walking route for Westhoughton High School and my daughter says that the smell of the exhaust fumes in summer especially is terrible especially from the H.G.V'S struggling to come up this road in the mornings.

Tommy Howarth -SWAN
March 2000