NEW shops are planned for Whitefield's Elms Precinct - but traders still face an uncertain future surrounded by rubble.

The Isle of Man-based precinct owners have submitted a planning application for a parade of shops at the edge of the demolished Whitefield site but they have not said what will happen to the rest of the precinct.

Plans -submitted to Bury Council's planning department - show the demolition of three vacant shops on the adjacent Bury New Road. A large two storey unit, roughly the size of a small supermarket, and five two-storey units will then be built.

The shops will be connected by a first-floor walkway.

However, precinct owners Anglo International Holdings admit there are "no proposals" for the rest of the blitzed site. Traders were left surrounded by rubble after bulldozers unexpectedly appeared at the precinct four weeks ago and demolished vacant properties.

Leader of Bury Council, Whitefield Councillor Derek Boden, said: "It's certainly an improvement on the existing situation. The most important thing is to retain local shopping facilities and this seems to be their intention.

"We take comfort from the initial application but we remain concerned about the rest of the precinct. I do not know why they knocked it down and they have not told us."

The application is expected to go before the the planning committee in the next municipal year, after the May 6 local elections.

A spokesman for Anglo told the Guide that, if permission was granted, the shops could be completed by the summer.

He said: "The remaining tenants in the Elms will certainly be welcome to move into the new shops if they want to. We do not have any plans for the rest of the precinct at the moment and we will probably use some of the rubble in the construction of the new development."

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