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Westhoughton

Westhoughton has a population of around 25,000 residents, the town centre is a well-connected and bustling, with unique local character. Westhoughton already offers a wide range of assets, from a town hall, a library, Carnegie Hall, an indoor market, independent businesses, shops and cafés, a recently refurbished leisure centre, a town park, schools, therapy centre, national convenience retail and food & drink brands, office space, banks and building societies. The range and diversity of Westhoughton town centre assets is very good.

Westhoughton Town Hall

Taking Action

A number of the town centres challenges could be addressed through the development of the masterplan including developing vacant sites, pedestrian links and connectivity between shops and areas near the town including the park, additional parking and maximising underutilised buildings in the centre.

To face these challenges, the Council has adopted a three-pronged regeneration strategy to;

  • create a masterplan
  • intervene directly
  • leverage private investment
Ditchfield gardens

A £16m budget was approved in 2019 to support the delivery of town centre strategies in Farnworth, Westhoughton, Horwich and Little Lever, which aims to sustain the immediate future of the town centres to the benefit of the wider Borough and its residents.

The funding will be used to create strategies and masterplans in consultation with the local community and stakeholders to support targeted interventions which ultimately will attract private sector investment to secure any development proposals. The level of funding given to any town centre will depend on the overall content and quality of the strategy and masterplan and the level of support needed to initiate development.

Houses

Development of Westhoughton’s Masterplan

BDP were appointed as Consultants in October 2019, to help develop a masterplan which reflects the Bolton Vision 2030 of “creating a vibrant place, built on strong cohesive communities, successful business and healthy residents ensuring it is a welcoming place where people choose to study, work and put down roots”.

On completion of a masterplan for Westhoughton, a town centre Strategy will be developed by Bolton Council that will include target interventions, a masterplan framework and outlined economic benefits. An action plan of priorities, output measures and indicators will then be developed, monitored and reviewed annually by the Director of Place and Assistant Director of Economic Development and Regeneration alongside members of the Westhoughton town centre Steering Group.

Westhoughton

Masterplans and Proposals

A draft masterplan and key development proposals went out to public consultation at the start of 2020 and anyone with an interest in the future of Westhoughton town centre was given the opportunity to read the draft proposals and to feedback their views by the end of February 2020. The outcome of the public consultation will feed into the development of the final masterplan for Cabinet approval in Summer 2020.

District Centre Info

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