Lee Hall
Client: Peel Land
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester
Scale: circa 1,450 homes, alongside employment, community facilities, retail, a health facility and a care home
Role: Masterplanning, urban design and Design & Access Statement
Status: Planning application under consideration
A new neighbourhood with its own identity
What Lee Hall is all about
Lee Hall is about more than housing numbers. It is about creating a place that works day to day.
The masterplan brings together new homes with community facilities, local retail, a health facility and a care home, supported by green infrastructure and new connections. The aim has always been to create a neighbourhood that feels complete, not simply an extension of existing development.
The site sits to the west of Westhoughton, within a wider area of change and growth to the south of Bolton, and forms part of a long-term vision being brought forward by Peel Land.
How we became involved
Hope Architects had previously been appointed by Peel Land as architects and masterplanners for the residential elements of Hulton Park, the adjoining scheme with permission for around 1,036 homes and a championship level golf course.
That earlier work gave us a strong understanding of the landscape, movement patterns and opportunities across the wider area. It also meant there was continuity of thinking when Lee Hall came forward, particularly around how the two sites should relate to one another without feeling overly dependent.
Finding its own character
In its early stages, Lee Hall was more closely tied to the golf course at Hulton Park. Initial layouts explored homes and streets facing onto the fairways, using the golf landscape as a defining edge.
As the golf course design evolved, land to the west of the historic railway embankment was removed from the championship layout. That change altered the relationship between the two sites and allowed Lee Hall to develop a clearer identity of its own.
The focus shifted away from fronting the golf course and towards creating strong internal streets, green spaces and neighbourhood character. Lee Hall became less about what it sat next to, and more about what it was in its own right.
Park Avenue and movement benefits
The redesign of the golf course also unlocked an opportunity to revisit the alignment of Park Avenue, a new strategic link road serving this part of the area.
The revised route delivers clear benefits beyond the site itself. It helps relieve pressure on Chequerbent Roundabout and provides a new route for journeys heading south from the M61 towards Atherton and Leigh.
For Westhoughton in particular, this piece of infrastructure plays an important role in improving traffic flow and network resilience, while supporting future growth.
Part of a bigger picture
Lee Hall also forms part of the Wigan and Bolton Strategic Growth Corridor, known as Northfold.
Within that wider context, the scheme contributes to a coordinated approach to housing delivery, infrastructure investment and improved connectivity between settlements. It is not just a standalone neighbourhood, but part of a longer-term strategy for growth across the area.
Our approach to the masterplan
We developed the masterplan through an iterative process, testing options and refining ideas as the design evolved.
Key themes included:
A clear movement framework built around Park Avenue and a legible street hierarchy
Distinct character areas shaped by density, typology and landscape
A connected network of green spaces for recreation and biodiversity
Well placed community uses and local centres to support daily life
Careful transitions to existing development and surrounding countryside
At every stage, the aim was to balance ambition with deliverability, making sure the plan worked both on paper and in practice.
Design leadership and collaboration
Hope Architects acted as design lead, architect and masterplanner, helping coordinate a multidisciplinary consultant team and drawing together technical, environmental and planning inputs into a coherent whole.
We worked closely with:
LUC on landscape, public open space and Public Rights of Way
Turley on planning strategy and coordination
TEP on trees and environmental considerations
AECOM on highways and infrastructure
i-Transport on traffic and transport
Regular workshops and ongoing testing helped ensure that constraints informed the design, rather than dictating it.
Design and Access Statement
We brought the work together in a highly graphical Design and Access Statement that explains how the masterplan evolved and why key decisions were made.
The document is designed to be clear and accessible, while also providing a robust framework for future phases as the site moves forward.
Making sure it stacks up
Alongside the design work, we used our in-house land prediction tools to test capacity, explore phasing and inform the client’s viability modelling.
To support this, we also produced a plot-by-plot illustrative detailed layout for internal use. This helped prove the proposed capacity, refine cost assumptions and give the client confidence that the masterplan was robust and deliverable.
What it means for the area
Lee Hall sets out a clear vision for a new, mixed use and well-connected neighbourhood, shaped by landscape, supported by infrastructure and grounded in a realistic understanding of delivery.
Alongside Hulton Park, and as part of the wider Northfold growth area, it demonstrates how large-scale development can be approached in a thoughtful, coordinated and place led way.
