A CAMPAIGN group has welcomed the decision to delay approving plans to build 830 homes.

Wigan Council’s planning committee deferred an outline application at land west of Bee Fold Lane in Atherton in a meeting last month.

After a site visit members agreed with residents that the location of an access junction on Leigh Road would be unsafe.

Concerns were also raised in the meeting about a high pressure gas main running along the southern boundary of the site.

The local authority says a meeting on the proposals is expected to take place on September 11.

Chair of Atherton South Preservation Ecology Community Team (ASPECT) Barbara Constantine, who attended the meeting last month, said: “I think the deferment was a good result and it means that the committee will be able to have a good look at all the documents.

“We just want to do our best for the residents and the new ones that will move in to the development.

“The safety issue with the gas pipeline is still our main focus at the site though.”