After builders cleaning in Wigan

At the 2021 Census 45.6% of Wigan households lived in a semi, 26.1% in a terrace, 19.2% in a detached house and 9.1% in a flat, and 66.8% owned their home. The council's Housing Strategy for 2026 to 2031 counts 151,815 dwellings: 79.7% are houses, almost 20% were built before 1919 and 68.6% sit in council tax bands A or B. In a borough of owner-occupied semis, many builders cleans follow an extension, a loft conversion or a new kitchen.

The middle of Wigan is older. In the Census area round Wigan Central ward, 52.7% of households live in a terraced house and 28.5% rent privately, and about six in ten homes with a recorded build date (60.3%) went up before 1919. Plaster dust in those houses gets onto picture rails, into the gaps in old boards and along the top of every door, and the crew dusts twice because it settles again. Leigh (WN7) has an even higher share of these terraces, while Golborne is mainly semis.

In Wigan the skip company applies and pays online for the licence at least two working days before the skip arrives. On 24 October 2026 the council listed the fee as £58 per skip, or £65 in Wigan or Leigh town centres, for up to 28 days. A skip on the road has to be lit from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise, and a skip on a driveway or an unadopted road needs no licence at all.

A scaffold or hoarding on a public highway needs its own licence, applied for at least two working days ahead and lasting up to 28 days, renewable before it runs out. The council listed it at £160, or £212 in a town centre.

Parking is usually simple. Wigan's controlled parking zones cover only a few places: the Swinley area of Wigan (zones W1 to W3, 9am to 5pm Monday to Saturday) and three zones in Leigh. Elsewhere the crew asks for a space on the drive or the street outside.

Wigan has 23 conservation areas with appraisals, among them Wigan town centre, Wigan Pier, Mesnes and Dicconson, five in Leigh, Golborne town centre and Ashton-in-Makerfield. Inside them most demolition is controlled and trees are protected, so period doors, sashes and fireplaces often survive a refurbishment, and the crew cleans them gently.

Since 31 August 2025 a borough-wide Article 4 Direction means every conversion of a house into an HMO needs planning permission. The council runs no selective licensing: only HMOs with five or more occupiers need a licence, at £823 new or £531 to renew, and letting one unlicensed can bring a fine of up to £30,000. A landlord getting a house ready to let after works can book the whole house or just the rooms that need it.

The big schemes bring new homes to clean. Fettlers, on the old Galleries site in the town centre, is planned to have more than 400 homes with a market hall and a hotel. The council's masterplan for land north of Mosley Common sets out around 1,100 homes. Leigh town centre has more than £32 million for its streets and market, and in Ashton-in-Makerfield (WN4) a £6.6 million programme is turning the old market site into a square.