Wigan Road Ashton

In a letter in this week's Reporter a Catherine Fletcher has highlighted the poor state of the buildings in Wigan Road Ashton.


I totally agree with her. I have frequently pointed out that the area in question is a poor advert for Ashton.

Now highlighting the problem is always the easy bit. More difficult is what I as a Councillor and Wigan Council can do about it.

The first difficulty is that as far as I am aware the buildings in question are owned privately and consequently Wigan Council has no direct power to improve them.

I list below the actions that I can take:

1. One empty shop in particular is in a very bad state of repair and I have asked the Council to use the power they do have to get it improved

2. I have asked the the Director of Environmental Services for a full assessment of other measures that can be taken in the area.

3. There is a meeting of local businesses to be held next week and I will be asking the members present to consider this issue with a view to possible action in the future.

However. in my opinion, what Ashton town centre urgently needs is massive expenditure in the centre if it is not to look as run down as the area in question. That is why Ian McCartney and myself have been pressing Wigan Council for some time now to come up with plans for the centre and ways of getting a investment into the town.We are expecting a progress report within the next few months.

I would be grateful for any comments anybody has about this matter