LEIGH councillor Brian Jarvis has defended the council action in selling off land in Pennington.

The land was sold to a development company which has subsequently sold on the land to a house builder.

He was replying to criticism from Pat Monaghan of Pennington Road, who said people were annoyed at the sale which had deprived the area of another green space.

She added: "What annoys me and a lot of other people around here is there is nothing coming back into Leigh from the sale of all this land.

"We keep seeing pieces of land sold off, such as that at Wesley Guild and now this land at the back of the Brooklands pub, and it always seems to be the people of Leigh who suffer."

But Cllr Jarvis said: "This land was surplus to requirements and it was part of our alternative budget strategy which was agreed by all councillors before the last election.

"It was sold to Limewood developments who already owned part of the land.

"They simply joined it to their own piece and then sold the whole lot to Charlton Homes who have now expected to make an application to build 60 houses on the site.

"As for land being sold in Leigh, I would point out there is more land sold at the Wigan end of the borough than in Leigh."

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