A DECISION on a controversial 99-home development has been deferred so that Wigan Council can carry out a site visit.

Residents and councillors have raised access and traffic concerns regarding the proposed 2.84-hectare development to the west of Tiverton Avenue in Hindley Green.

A petition with 119 signatures and 33 letters from residents opposed to the Bellway Homes development have been sent to the council.

But council planners concluded in a report that the development should go ahead as proposed and detailed their findings to a Wigan Town Hall committee on Tuesday.

The planning committee opted against giving the plans the thumbs up, instead deciding to delay the decision until the next meeting on July 18.

Before then members of the committee will visit the site to gain a better understanding of protesters' concerns.

Residents have called for access proposals to be changed to enable vehicles to enter the new site from Corner Lane rather than by Tiverton Avenue being extended.

But the planning report says: “The proposed access arrangements will create additional vehicle movements along the established cul-de-sac links in Tiverton Avenue, Taunton Avenue and Harbern Drive.

"However the increase in vehicular traffic is not envisaged to have such an impact on residential amenity to justify seeking alternative access arrangements or resisting the proposal."

New Greater Manchester mayor and former Leigh MP Andy Burnham joined councillors in raising concerns about how the development would affect traffic around Tiverton Avenue and Habern Drive.

And in July angry residents protested against Bellway Homes waggons illegally accessing a public footpath near the site.

They blockaded the normally quiet Tiverton Avenue cul-de-sac with their cars to prevent construction vehicles crossing the path.

Police were called to calm the situation down.

At the time the council admitted Bellway Homes did not have a permit to use the footpath to access the site, where it had wanted to carry out survey work.

The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework aims to allow 25,000 new homes to be built by 2035.