Bolton ready to start with new council houses

This design by Paddock Johnson Partnership has been chosen for the first council houses to be built in Bolton for 20 years.

Planning approval was recently granted for the £2m scheme, which will see 17 homes built on land at Hamilton Court, in Little Lever.

The project, which was given a £1m grant by the government, will start on the ground in February.

Over the next 12 years, Bolton Council wants to develop around 6,000 new homes of which 3,000 will be for sale and 3,000 for affordable rent.

Ten two-bedroom apartments, six semi-detached houses and one detached house are expected to be ready for tenants in early 2011, and will be managed by Bolton at Home.

Great Places Housing Group and Paddock Johnson Partnership, based in Wirral, are delivering the scheme, designed to reach code for sustainable homes level 4. There will also be leisure space, parking provision, and shared communal allotment spaces.

Cllr Nick Peel, Bolton Council's executive member for housing, said: "Like all local authorities, we have a real shortage of affordable housing and these houses will help provide much needed new housing for local people. The housing scheme has been designed with careful consideration to the surrounding areas, neighbourhoods and buildings."