A planning application has been submitted for a significant mixed-use scheme including 1,700 homes on the site of the former Horwich Loco Works near Bolton.

Cass Associates has been working on a Masterplan for the 189-acre regeneration project that will see the Victorian railway works transformed into a sustainable new community.

Plans for the site, which is to be known as Rivington Chase, have been lodged by Horwich Vision – a joint venture between Bluemantle and Orbit Developments – in partnership with Bolton Council.

With an investment cost of around £260m, the project is expected to take 12 to 15 years to complete and has been described by Bolton Council Leader Cliff Morris as “a development of regional significance”, a key part of the Borough’s economic development plans and an opportunity to meet the town’s housing demand over the next decade.

Comprising a combination of contemporary houses, more than 180,000 sq ft of office and employment land as well as areas of public open space, the new development will offer a quality life/work environment, economic prosperity and the creation of more than 1500 new jobs.

Central to the scheme will be a Mixed-Use Heritage Core with the retention of four original Horwich Locomotive buildings and the addition of a formal, civic, public square.  A large area of residential development is to be located to the north of the site, with further employment land to the south. Existing areas of open space will provide a valuable ecological and amenity asset including parks and play areas and a network of linked routes will provide pedestrian and cycle connections.