MORE people living in the town centre gives a ‘chance to reshape the future’ of central Bolton, a property boss has said.

Lyndon Forshaw, 47, who was born and still lives in Westhoughton, runs Forshaw Land and Property group, a Bolton based firm hoping to build 59 townhouses on land fronting St George’s Road between Bark Street and Back Bark Street.

In recent years Mr Forshaw’s firm, which has existed since 2008, has been behind the Pack Horse Hotel student accommodation and the conversion into student apartments of the former Lloyds TSB bank in Deansgate.

More recently they converted and extended the derelict Trinity church into more than 70 studio flats, which are currently fully occupied.

The development forms part of Bolton Council’s £1bn masterplan to redevelop the town centre.

Mr Forshaw  a former Canon Slade pupil who studied at Manchester University, said: “I’m fully behind the plan to get a few thousand people living in the town centre.

“Clearly the retail outlook has changed for Bolton and lots of other towns across the countrywith increased internet shopping.

“There’s a need to re-purpose buildings, the shrinking of retail means we need to revitalise them and one of the obvious things is to get more people living there.

“This is just what Manchester’s done with tens of thousands living in the city centre now.

“I think for many smaller towns on the periphery like Bolton that’s the model of what they need to do.

“We won’t have the demand for retail any more so the idea is to get more people living in town centres which will drive demand for more leisure and for retail.”

Mr Forshaw said he believes Bolton was an attractive proposition because the cost of living was currently lower than elsewhere.

He said: “The rents in Bolton town centre are around half what they are in Manchester so you can live in Bolton more cheaply and commute if needed.

“It’s 20 minutes on the train to Piccadilly.

“In Bolton there’s so much available space, especially in the Croal Valley area.

“You rarely get that opportunity for redevelopment on a scale you have here.

“We have an opportunity to reshape the future with these areas of intervention.”

Speaking of the St George’s Road development, Mr Forshaw said it would be ‘the first of its kind’ in the town centre if given the go ahead.

He said: “All the homes have got roof terraces, gardens and parking.

“Even though it’s in town centre this is not housing fodder.”

Mr Forshaw also revealed that he had acquired another property close to his firm’s offices on Wood Street and had agreed terms to buy the current PoundStretcher building near McDonald’s on Knowsley Street

with a view to a mixed use scheme with flats above shops.