A waste of space

That's the view of locals who have nominated the area one of Britain's worst wasted spaces in a national campaign.

Launched earlier this month the Wasted Space? campaign has attracted enormous public support and next month Leigh people will learn whether it tops the bill as Britain's worst wasted space.

The campaign www.wastedspace.org.uk follows a new report commissioned by CABE Space, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, which estimates some 70,000 hectares of derelict and vacant land exists across England and Wales.

The reports shows 5,000 hectares of wasted space is attached to dock and canal sides, undeveloped council sites, former gas works, quarries and mining sites.

It reasons that residential developers retain large land banks but deliberately keep land unused for years before it can be built on and absentee landowners 'forget' they own land that has lost value.

CABE Space director Julia Thrift said: "This campaign intends to narrow the gap between what we have and what we deserve."

Part of the vast pit site alongside Plank Lane is zoned for housing and industrial development and the rest is earmarked for landscaping and leisure use in a multi-million pound project.