I WISH to respond to readers’ letters in the previous edition of the Journal calling for more roads to be built in Astley and less houses to be built in Atherton, Leigh and Tyldesley.

We have ambitious plans to improve the borough’s infrastructure, including the building of new roads which will improve the connectivity from the east to the west.

We are working with our partners in Greater Manchester to ensure that significant investment in our transport links is delivered through the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.

The sites identified in the framework will help to deliver a new route on the East Lancs Road and a route through to the M61 from Gibfield.

In regards to housing, the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework is currently looking at the need for new homes across the region up to 2035 which takes into account future generations of housing needs, not just what is needed within the next few years.

Right across the borough there are a number of housing developments with planning approval, and these are spread across a number of areas, with high levels of homes identified for Standish, Hindley, Golborne and Lowton, not just in Atherton, Leigh and Tyldesley.

And nearly a quarter of the supply identified to 2035 is in Wigan.

There will be a growing demand for houses due to an ever increasing population as more people are living for longer and living independently in their own homes.

This is coupled with a steep rise in single occupancy.

It is important to note that although there are a large number of homes approved, the number of houses actually being built each year falls below the required need for the borough as a whole.

We have to meet housing need based upon evidence such as household forecasts and demographic change, and plans will not get through public examination without that need being addressed.

Mike Worden

Assistant director for planning and transport

Wigan Council