In the late 60s the Greater Manchester and Lancashire Joint Reclamation Team began developing the area for recreation, levelling the spoil heaps and planting thousands of trees, with the intention of providing facilities for a wide range of leisure pursuits.

The initial phase involved the building of a Visitor Centre, a motor car and motor cycling racing circuit and creation of a lake for sailing and angling. Following local government reorganisation in 1974 the area was passed to the care of Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. With the cutbacks in public expenditure in the eighties further development of the site ceased and there was little maintenance.

However, the trees and meadows flourished to provide a pleasing contrast to the previous industrial dereliction and an active programme of improving the woodlands and grasslands is now in progress. The facilities at the Three Sisters are popular with racing enthusiasts, fishermen, walkers and cyclists, and it also serves as a gateway to the Wigan Flashes, Viridor Wood and surrounding countryside.