Lowton East Neighbourhood Development Forum (LENDF)
Contact Email Address: [email protected]
Minutes of meeting held on Monday 14 March 2022 at Lowton Social Club
Covering Chairperson/Treasurer Irene Thomson
Introducing New Chairperson Lesley McGowan
Secretary Liz Brown
Deputy Secretary Julie Shawcross
Minutes Secretary Gill Turner
Councillors Kath Houlton, Marie Cooper
Apologies – Ed Houlton.
No. of attendees = 26
1. Minutes from last meeting
Not read out at meeting but copies have been sent out by email and posted on Facebook. There has been no meeting since 6 September 2021.
It was with a heavy heart that the meeting was informed about the sad loss of the Group’s Chairman Ed Thwaite, who had been involved in many local issues within the area covered by LENDF. He will be greatly missed.
2. Introductions were made of new Committee Members.
Thank you to those who responded recently to LENDF’s request for these positions to be filled. There will be the need for Sub-Committees for specific projects in the future and more detail will be given on those in the future.
HS2 – Crewe to Manchester
3. Presentation by Liz Brown on HS2
HS2 is still planned to come through the area. The High Speed Rail – Crewe to Manchester “Hybrid” Bill is currently with Parliament and the second reading of the bill is due around Spring/Summer. There is a consultation currently out with a deadline of 31st March for residents to give their responses to the Environmental Impact Statement. Residents were given details of how to call/contact HS2 to obtain copies of literature including Community Profiles, maps and response forms.
To get this information:
See website: https://arcg.is/nfODz
Or freephone: 08081 434 434
Or email: [email protected]
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The maps you require are MA05, Volume 2 the community area reports for the Risley/Bamfurlong, and a copy of the environmental response form. All literature is free. You can also fill in the response form online:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hs2-phase-2b-crewe-manchester environmental-statement-consultation
LENDF’s committee wish to gather as much local community information about the impact/environment of HS2 and any issues people may have, to help inform a LENDF response. Attendees were advised to think about the following in forming their responses:
• Comments on the route wide impact of HS2
• Comments on specific points to Lowton, giving map references from MA05 maps eg EG: Map CT-05-331 A2 J&I school pupils will suffer a major impact of noise and traffic pollution over 5+ years of construction.
• Any other concerns eg will mitigation be scrimped if money runs out, what about our poor local public transport, local transport will not be enhanced by HS2. Issues with crossing county boundaries. E.g., When using our nearest train station at Newton-le-Willows there is no bus route to Lowton after 18:00 as this 3 mile journey crosses the Merseyside/Greater Manchester border. We need local centric strategies not London centric ones.
Various ways to gather information and notify people about issues were discussed e.g working collaboratively with Lowton West and Golborne.
Action: Attendees were advised to send their comments (e.g land suggested for alternative football pitches is at gradient that is totally unsuitable) to LENDF via email. They could also submit an individual response if they wished.
There will be a HS2 Meeting via MS Teams 15 March 2022 at 18:00. People were informed they could still book to attend the meeting and encouraged to do so.
A member of ‘Stop HS2’ was present and talked about the issues residents had with HS1 and HS2a. He related that communities have been split in half and gave examples such as during construction in Warwickshire an average of 28 HGV vehicles going through affected areas had increased to 900 HGV. He noted that Lowton would be one of the worst affected outside central Manchester.
There will be a STOP HS2 demonstration held in Piccadilly Gardens at 12:00 on Saturday 19 March 2022 and everyone welcome. This is a family friendly event.
The HS2 route was discussed and the possibility of the Government withdrawing/deferring the link through Lowton and other communities in preference to an alternative and less disruptive route. The impact of the integral plan for the East to West Line was also considered.
It was suggested to contact David Proctor, Acting Assistant Director of Growth and Housing, at Wigan Council, to see what Wigan’s thoughts were on HS2. Previously the Wigan Cabinet had been actively campaigning for HS2 as they thought the 3 passenger trains per hour in each direction would stop at Wigan. This is not the case now and these passenger trains will only stop at Crewe and Preston, with no other
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stops in between. Good for Preston, where Preston station has the space to be modified for the 400m trains, not so great for the rest of us.
Redrow Housing Development
4. A discussion took place about a meeting being organised to discuss issues caused by Redrow Development, Oakwood Fields, Lowton (off Bainbridge) 22 March 2022 at 15:00. Letters stated a maximum of 6 residents only, could attend and Wigan council would select which residents could go! It was suggested for the meeting to be held at Lowton Social Club to allow more people to attend.
Action: A change of venue is to be organised if possible although Redrow isn’t that keen on the idea. Contact details: [email protected]
Parkside
5. Parkside Development was discussed. Signage suggesting 92 weeks of possible delays/some closure on Winwick Lane. Construction vehicles using Winwick Road, Newton will also have extra traffic.
Atherleigh Bypass
6. Atherleigh Bypass extension was discussed including the possible impact of HS2 on the area and the views of the Wigan and Warrington Councils. David Proctor from Wigan was given as a contact. It was suggested any transport mitigation monies from the many building projects in the area should be put towards the extension of the current bypass. It was noted that current procedures that specified money had to be spent within a certain time or given back to the builders was a limiting factor; why couldn’t money be set aside in a specified project pot, or the bypass work done in stages? Other less expensive road enhancement suggestions to mitigate volume of traffic were seen as not fit for purpose. Latest estimates put the cost of a bypass at 13 million pounds. It was agreed that Kath Houlton would facilitate the introduction to the relevant Warrington Council contact for the LENDF committee to take further.
Community Groups
7. It was agreed for local groups to pull together for the community, LENDF, Brathwaite Road Residents Group, Lowton East Residents, Lane Head South Residents Group, LaGTAG and any other residential/community groups. By keeping in touch with each other the multiple groups can be informed of issues.
AOB
• New train stations on existing lines for Kenyon and Golborne. This is to be chased up again on where these are up to.
• Speeding was discussed in the area and facts and figures were given out from monitoring August/September last year. The outcome of data shows that the
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higher speeding is in areas of 20mph. (Graham Wardle from LaGTAG said he will send the data over).
• It was mentioned by a resident on the new Crompton Way estate that they have had some success with putting up speeding signs drawn by local children.
Action: The details of how to create these signs will be passed to LENDF committee for them to look into costings and bring to a future meeting for consideration in areas which have a significant speeding issue.
Next Meeting: 11 April 2022 – 19:30
At Lowton Social Club
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