WIGAN Council and angry campaigners are "concerned" a new housing estate proposed for Pennington may have a disastrous effect on wildlife. A government inspector has given the green light to a 10-acre outline housing scheme at Taylor's Hole, a haven for nature. But a council spokesman said they were "very disappointed" and "surprised" by the decision. And Radcliffe-based environmental group Campaign for Planning Sanity has called it "irrational".

Council planners had wanted to refuse the application but a planning technicality meant an inquiry was called.

Wildlife experts now fear the loss of the rare British kingfisher, a protected species, along with one of the county's most significant water vole populations living in the pool and surrounding brooks. The site also lies in the "primary wildlife corridor" in the Metro's unitary development plan (UDP) -- which links Pennington Flash with Hope Carr Nature Reserve. The council spokesman said: "We are very disappointed and surprised. We thought there was a good case against the project.

"We are concerned there will be a serious impact on wildlife. But the government inspector did not accept our concerns. Although a lot of conditions have been attached which developers must meet."

And CfPS chairman Chris Maile said: "The inspector has totally disregarded the wishes of the local community, national planning policy and the suitablitity of the site from a flooding viewpoint making the decistion perverse and irrational."

Inspector Norah Ball approved the project this week after a five-day public inquiry last year following an appeal by developer Milnes Gaskell Estate.

Giving evidence in the inquiry, Suzanne Waymont from Greater Manchester's ecology unit, said the water vole had undergone a huge decline in the UK. Ninety-four pc of water voles could now have lost their homes.

But the government inspector found the appeal site made up only a small part of a much larger wildlife area and she thought the "integrity" of the route or its species would not be damaged by the project.

She said the cropped grassland which would be developed was already open and accessible and dismissed its wildlife value. Flood plain regulations and access requirements to the brook would also reduce the scope of development.

The inspector said no specific evidence about the number of water voles at Taylor's Hole had been put forward.

She said: "While there is no clear evidence that water voles or their habitats are at risk on the site now, appreciable improvements to habitat would provide an opportunity for the consolidations and spread of important species along the wildlife corridor of which the appeal site forms part." She stipulated builders must submit a detailed scheme within the next five years and that development would not be allowed to start before a flood storage scheme and landscaping plan had been agreed with the council.