Blackpool donkeys' winter holiday home reprieved

Blackpool donkeys' winter home has been saved

Plans to concrete over farmland used as a winter holiday home by Blackpool's beach donkeys have been scrapped.

The original Greater Manchester Spatial Framework proposal included plans to build on an area of green belt near Wigan called "The Bell".

It would have meant the construction of 170 new houses and the creation of a 150,000 sq m industrial space.

Gillian Morris, whose Latham Farm has stables used by the donkeys, said she was "ecstatic" by the reprieve.

Her family has led two years of campaigning to save the donkeys' holiday home, close to junction 26 of the M6.

"We are ecstatic," she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service. "It's been a long time coming.

"It's a nice way to start the new year, that's for sure. We were concerned that things had gone quiet and there have been a lot of delays with it."

The original proposals to build on the green belt were part of a wide-ranging plan compiled and agreed by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, an amalgamation of Greater Manchester's 10 councils.

But a revision to the plans published on Monday has cut the amount of at-risk green belt land by more than half.

Wigan Council leader David Molyneux said "issues with deliverability" had been identified with the original plans and that town hall chiefs had listened to residents' feedback.