Plans for a golf club to reconfigure parts of its course due to a proposed massive motorway remodelling scheme around Simister Island have been passed.
Pike Fold Golf Club in Unsworth, which describes itself as "north Manchester’s premier golf club" due to its professional standard greens, now has permission to alter seven of its 18 holes.
In a planning application to the council, the club said changes to the course layout were needed due to "the impact of the Simister Island development along the M60 to maintain safety margins from the encroaching motorway widening".
They added: “It has now been agreed that the safest option for all concerned would be to move the greens further from the affected boundary.”
The works will include changes to holes one, two, six,10, 15,17 and 18.
Among the work requested is filling in existing bunkers and building new ones, changing tee placements and altering footpaths.
The club said tree clearance to enable adjustments would be minimal having had discussions with the Forestry Commission.
This week, the council have said the proposed changes to the course are lawful saying they "are deemed not to constitute development".
But a proposed carriageway widening and realignment of the M66, M62 and M60 means the motorway would come to close to some of the current playing areas.
National Highways have proposed a new free-flow link (northern loop) from the M60 eastbound to M60 southbound carriageways at Simister.
They also plan to realign the M66 southbound carriageway on the approach to the junction.
A new two-lane free-flow road from the M60 northbound to the M60 westbound to replace the existing single-lane would be created and the M66 would be widened southbound to four lanes through junction 18.
There would also be a conversion of the hard shoulder into a permanent traffic lane between M60 junctions 17 and 18, providing five lanes in both directions.
The project is estimated to cost between £207m and £340m.
The golf club was also forced to move from its previous Blackley location at the end of the 1990s, that time to accommodate a section of the M60 motorway being built.
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