‘I returned from holiday, went into the garden, and burst into tears at what I saw’
When Maxine Southwell came home from vacation, she walked into her backyard and burst into tears.
She, her husband Ian and their children have lived at their family home in Tyldesley, Wigan, for 18 years. They said they bought the house, whose back overlooks the field, partly because of its view. But this view no longer exists.
In its place are four large warehouses under construction as part of logistics firm PLP’s controversial Astley Business Park development. Construction work began this year alongside hundreds of homes on the Henfold Estate, with planning permission granted by Wigan Council in 2024.
The warehouses are up to 60 meters high, and that scale was clearly evident when the Southwells returned home in August.
Ms Southwell, 57, said: “We walked through our garden and thought ‘wow, what is that?’ “We said,” he said. Independent.
“I burst into tears, I couldn’t believe it. We had been away for two weeks and in those two weeks it had gone from being acceptable to ‘oh my god, what is this?'”
They are not alone in their anger. The married couple are part of campaign group Astley Warehouse Action, which brings together a range of housing estate residents in the area who oppose the project for a number of reasons.
The group believes that the development plan is not compatible with the residential fabric of the area, which has consisted of public housing since the 1970s, and that planning permission should not be granted by Wigan Council. They claim residents are under the impression that any construction will now involve smaller buildings rather than gray steel structures towering over their homes.
However, the local authority said the size, footprint and height of the units were specified in the planning application and that no major changes had been made to these since permission was granted.
The group wrote a letter to the city last month demanding that construction be halted. Wigan Council denied this but a spokesman said: Independent: “We fully acknowledge the concerns of local residents about this development and are committed to continuing to work with them.
“We are confident that the decision to grant planning permission was consistent with national planning policy. However, we fully acknowledge the concerns raised and an independent audit of the planning process is currently ongoing to ensure additional transparency.”
The action group claims the construction has had an impact beyond changing the landscape and causing a lot of noise, it has damaged their property.
Ms Southwell said she believed the creation of levees in the area in recent weeks had caused water to flow into the garden and flood it, while photos and videos shared on the campaign group’s Instagram account showed parents walking along a flooded road carrying their children to Garrett Hall Primary School.
“We started to notice it a little bit coming into the garden and then slowly it got worse,” Ms Southwell said.
“We attribute this to the warehouse development phase. We’ve never experienced anything like this before; we’ve lived here for 18 years and have never experienced flooding.”
The Southwell family is now worried about floods reaching their home.
Ms Southwell said: “It was a few feet away from our extension on Tuesday. It’s the start of winter. It’s going to get worse, it’s going to be really bad next week.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. If it gets worse than Tuesday, it’s going to reach the house and flood it.”
“It covered our flower beds, it was three-quarters the size of my boots. That’s how deep it is.”
“We had to turn off the electricity because the electric lights at the bottom of the garden were off. We cannot use our garden, we cannot go into it.”
For Ms Southwell, the flood represents the culmination of months of misery living next to the development, which she believes has spoiled the joy of her home.
“We bought the house because of the view. Our bedroom has a balcony and now it only looks out. We don’t even open the curtains anymore. It’s too bad.”
“It hurts to talk about it because it’s so devastating. Everyone who comes in can’t believe it. They can’t believe it. It’s unbelievable. It’s so sad.”
“We worked hard. I’m 57, my husband is 60, we’ve worked all our lives and now we have a nice house. They’re ruining it.”
‘You’re starting to see this steel monster grow’
At the center of the fight against development is married couple John and Jackie Peters. Retired teachers, who have lived on the site for 36 years, are among the leaders of the campaign group that took action earlier this year.
Mr Peters said: “It was a shock to the system as you started to see this steel monster grow. Being quite selfish we saw unit one on the far side of the field, thinking it wouldn’t be too bad if it stayed there. Unit two started and just kept growing and growing, as it got closer to our homes, to our properties. It started to become intimidating.”
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“We ended up having one of those moments when Mr Bates was against the Post Office. We tried to rent a room in a pub and said 30 or 40 people could attend. We opted for a larger room and in the summer we were beaten by the attendance that night – over 200 people attended.
“The meeting was very emotional; people were saying how it was affecting their mental health. It was a very, very big issue.”
Paul Bullough’s garden backs the development and said: Independent He said he now has control over his property and last year prevented his daughter from using the garden.
The 51-year-old said: “It’s drowning everything out. It’s like a storm cloud, I’m standing in my back room and it’s dark.”
“It’s very powerful in every way. I have workers who stand on a six-foot embankment (mound) near my backyard and can look inside my house.
“This has been going on for months. There are diggers looking at the top of the house. I can feel the engines now. Some days my water glass on my desk is shaking, they’re that close. It’s absolutely dominating everything, there’s loss of light, we hear it all the time, people are looking over the fence, diggers are looking back and forth.”
Mr Bullough, the accounting manager, also claims he felt the physical impact of the construction process while he was at home.
He explained: “Heavy rollers, when they shift into reverse, make a little shudder when the house goes into gear. It’s every minute of every day of our waking life. It trumps everything.”
“For my daughter, the garden was her safe space. She would go outside, dance and play. She is 12 and missed the whole summer because of the dust, noise, workers and heavy vehicles. For someone who loved the outdoors, she spent the whole summer indoors.”
Paula Boardman, who has lived in her home for 18 years, believes construction has created a hole in the ground and a crack on the side of her home. Like other campaigners speaking IndependentHe is having difficulty adapting to the change in his area and the impact of this change on his family’s home.
He said: “Where the extension is, there’s a big crack coming down the wall. This was in March or April, and as time went on, this crack got wider, longer, and quite advanced.”
“The ground continued to advance; it is now literally a hole in the ground and has fallen further. There are numerous cracks in the extension down the walls.”
Ms Boardman added: “I was sitting here the other night and thought, ‘I’m sure I can live with that, I’m sure it will get better.’ It doesn’t.
“When you sit at night you just see it; it takes away all our natural light. It’s frustrating and sad. You put so much money and love into your home and 18 years later you’re left with this.”
In response a PLP spokesman said: Independent: “PLP is delivering the scheme in full compliance with the planning approval granted by Wigan Council to deliver sustainable future development that will deliver jobs and inward investment into the borough.
“PLP and the site delivery team value their relationships with all stakeholders and continue to manage the construction of the project to the highest standards.”
