THE future of a towering eyesore, increasingly criticised as creating a bad impression beside a gateway into Atherton, comes under fire next week.

Five storey Victoria Mill, which soars above Bolton Old Road, has featured in the pages of the Journal several times over the past few years -- mostly as the butt of complaints about its dilapidated appearance.

Next Wednesday at 6pm locals are being invited to a meeting at the Formby Hall to air their concerns about the building and its current use and hear what is planned to breathe life into what has been described as a "bomb site" patch of dereliction jammed between the old and new highways to Bolton.

One who will be there is Jennifer Balmer who for 30 years has watched the mill and the rubbish-strewn disused lodges deteriorate from her Barnes Passage home. Mrs Balmer said: "It's an eyesore -- it has gradually got worse over the years and I'm sick of complaining to the council about the state of the mill and the lodges. Recently some of the mess has been tidied up in the mill yard but the boundary wall is falling down and the lodges are just an overgrown tip.

"I did put my house up for sale but then when I heard there were plans to tidy the area I decided to stay put. But nothing has happened yet and it's about time it did." She has called in Hindsford councillors to help speed up the action plan drawn up to rejuvenate the site with money from Atherton's Single Regeneration Budget fund. Cllr Robert Bleakley said: "There is money available in SRB5 and it has already been agreed that this site will be cleared up. I'd like to see that happen as quickly as possible." Former Mayor Cllr Mrs Evelyne Smith has called next week's open meeting at the Formby Hall and invited Wigan MBC officers to attend to answer queries relating to future developments and current environmental issues.