DIVINE intervention may be too much to ask but Bury North MP David Chaytor is exploring all avenues in a bid to solve the ongoing Bolton Road Sports Club saga.

The sports club is being turfed out by Bolton Road Methodist Church which wants to sell the land to housebuilder Wainhomes.

Mr Chaytor is in discussion with major players in the dispute - senior Methodist Church figures in particular - to find a solution acceptable to all parties.

He said: "It is a difficult issue. I have had several discussions with different people within the Methodist Church to try to find a way forward that would enable the church to get a new building, the sports club to get new and improved facilities and to deal with the specific points raised by objectors.

"I am speaking to a range of people not as a gesture but to find a practical way to resolve the conflict."

Ainsworth Chase and Bolton Road Residents Group have reacted angrily to plans to build on the current club site.

A statement issued by members of the Ainsworth Chase and Bolton Road Residents Group claims: "Commuters using Bolton Road during the rush hour are only too well aware of the frustration caused by heavy traffic.

"If Wainhomes are allowed to build the proposed 81 detached houses on the site currently occupied by Bolton Road Sports Club, it is estimated that more than 150 cars would need to join Bolton Road, adding to the congestion."

And Mr Chaytor added: "I am opposed to increasing traffic levels as a general principle and have sympathy with objectors because of the quantity of additional traffic on Ainsworth Road and Bolton Road if new houses were built.

"It is a matter of serious concern."

Factions involved in the bitter dispute over the new Bolton Road Sports Club site are firmly entrenched in their positions.

The club has submitted a second application to build a new facility at land off Bury's Dow Lane, with access on to Elton Vale Road.

The first, with an access off Wadebridge Drive, was rejected on account of projected traffic problems.

Residents around the proposed new site also claim the club would mean the loss of open recreational land.

Planning councillors will probably deal with the issue at a meeting on Thursday, June 4.

Around 350 letters of objection to the second application have been delivered to Bury Council by protesters. A spokeswoman said even more could have been collected but for tight deadlines relating to the application.

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