'You can visit our town but leaving is a nightmare'

Karen Millington said the traffic in Westhoughton has made her late for work

Mums in one part of Greater Manchester say traffic has become a "nightmare" and fear things could get worse if plans for 1,500 homes are approved.

Jayne Oakley, 41, said she struggles to pick her children up from school and get her son to football training due to the lengthy queues and delays she faces in Westhoughton.

"It has just become a nightmare, picking the kids up from school and getting them to their football," she added.

Peel Land, announced plans to create a new development; Lee Hall, which will include new homes, a bypass, industrial estate and a school which, it claims, will provide hundreds of new jobs and growth opportunities, including for existing local businesses.

Jayne Oakley said taking her son to football training is a "nightmare" due to traffic congestion In Westhoughton

The developer, which also wants to host the Ryder Cup at the nearby Hulton Park, said including a bypass as part of the Lee Hall development would ease traffic congestion.

Karen Millington, 49, lives in Westhoughton and gets a bus to work at Middlebrook in Horwich and regularly "has to apologise for being late" due to being stuck in traffic.

She said: "The infrastructure is unmanageable – it's like Hotel California because you can check in to Westhoughton but you can't leave."

The new bypass would link Atherton in Wigan with the Chequerbent roundabout near the M61.

Anna-Marie Watters said "gone are the days" when you can get home at a reasonable time

Plans are expected to be submitted to Bolton Council later this year, which will then undertake a statutory consultation ahead of making a decision in 2026.

Anna-Marie Watters, 58, said the traffic has become "relentless".

She added: "Gone are the days when you can pick your children up from school, get home at a reasonable time and put the dinner on.

"The days of having free time on your hands are gone because you're either at work or you're sat in the car."

Persimmon Homes is also building around 300 houses on the edge of Westhoughton, between Platt Lane and Manchester Road.

Peel Land wants to host the Ryder Cup in 2035 at Hulton Park.

Hulton Park forms part of an estate owned for more than 700 years by the Hulton family. After falling into neglect, it was bought by Peel in 2010.

About 500 of the homes in the Lee Hall development were previously included in the plans to host the Ryder Cup at the estate in 2035.

Nick Graham, an associate planning director at Peel Land said: "We are now proposing to lift the Ryder Cup restriction.

"We've effectively now got two projects: the Lee Hall scheme with around 1,500 homes and the golf project which includes some houses around it".

The tournament was last held in England in 2002 at The Belfry in Warwickshire.

Peel Land want to host the Ryder Cup at the Hulton Park estate near Westhoughton in 2035