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Ramblers back £100m racecourse

A GROUP of ramblers has backed a controversial plan for a £100m racecourse.

They claim a `silent majority' in Worsley, Swinton, Astley and Boothstown supports the Salford Forest Park scheme by developer Peel Holdings.

The fledgling group is going head-to-head with opposition group Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion by urging people to write in support to a government planning inspector.

Peel's plan includes an 18-hole international golf course, 6,000-seat stadium, equestrian centre, oval racetrack, and `eco village' with accommodation.

The ramblers, who live locally, say it will also open up the area to walkers, cyclists and horse riders and would improve access to nearby roads.

Spokesman Michael Ratcliffe, 56, from Worsley, said: "A lot of people we speak to are in favour of the scheme.

"We feel that the silent majority are not being heard on Salford Forest Park. The opponents are a vocal minority, who claim to represent the whole community, but do not.

"We believe that Salford Forest Park will improve facilities for the whole community.

"As a group, we are keen ramblers, not horse-racing enthusiasts. We believe the public have been deprived of access to land which will be opened up.

"We want our children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy the countryside on our doorstep. We do not subscribe to the view that any change has got to be detrimental, as opponents appear to do."

Salford council rejected the plan for 2,000 acres of woodland and farmland between Salford and Wigan last year, saying it would ruin greenbelt and threaten road safety.

A public inquiry will begin on April 21 and is due to last about four weeks. A government inspector will then decide if it should go ahead.

Peel, owners of the Trafford Centre, asked for a public inquiry after losing patience waiting for Salford and Wigan to make a decision.

The M.E.N. told two weeks ago how campaigners hoping to stop the scheme faced a race against time to raise up to £50,000, for experts to represent their views at the inquiry.

They have already raised more than £20,000.

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500 permenant jobs is something not to be sneezed at, build the course and sack the tories who don't want local jobs for local people

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If the group are keen ramblers the last place they would want to walk is next to a ten-lane sprawling motorway on one side and a gigantic glass stand on the other. There is nothing to stop people walking in most of the area now as it stands, at least its in a natural state at present. On non-race days Haydock Park have such entertainmants as stock car racing, and concerts. .

The entire area is a traffic nightmare , even at weekends with traffic frequently at a standstill on the local roads and the motorway.

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The alleged local ramblers are obviously clueless ones. Whilst they are out rambling across peels blitzkreig of manchester/salford and beyond, they'll return home to find cars parked up to their front door, with one or maybe all of its occupants urinating or vomitting in their prized flower patch, where the occupants who will no-doubt be some tanked up clown who we seem to see so much of in the local or national news for the wrong reasons or a false toff from possibly anywhere. Maybe that night when they realise that they've not got anything in for that nights tea, hopefully they'll get held up in the traffic which is an everday occurence in the area, and would think to themselves "I wish I'd said no to the racecourse" Think again rambly rambler's, your opinion will spawn a monster!!

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