Earlier this month Bolton Council approved plans to build 43 new homes between Roxalina Street and Bedford Drive in Great Lever, all of them classed as “affordable.”
Now the authority has agreed to sell the land at £150,000, coming to £450,000 less than its market value, to help make the development possible.
Council interim assistant director of corporate property Justin Clough said: “Obviously we’re looking to dispose of the site to our Bolton Community Housing Partner, Great Places.
“The site has been identified for affordable housing, 43 units.”
More than 40 new homes have been planned (Image: Great Places Housing Group) He added: “So we are looking to sell this at less than the open market value but best consideration for our partners at Bolton Community Housing for the benefit of building 43 units of affordable housing.”
Mr Clough had been addressing an executive cabinet member meeting and told them that the homes in Great Lever will be for “social tenants at social rents.”
The plan, which had already been approved by the council’s planning committee, will be a mix of 33 houses and ten flats to be developed by Great Places.
These will include six one-bedroom flats, four two-bedroom flats, nine two-bedroom houses, 12 three-bedroom houses and 12 four-bedroom houses.
The scheme has been approved (Image: Great Places Housing Group) The scheme has been more than four years in the making and will depend on £3.8M of public funding from Homes England and Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Addressing the cabinet member meeting Cllr David Grant, of Horwich South and Blackrod, said he had known the patch of land in Great Lever for decades.
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He said: “It has always been used for anti-social behaviour, its had fires on it, its had dumps on it.
“It has never been used by the community, and I have known it since 1998, that’s how far back I’ve known this land.”
Cllr Grant said that despite having opposed undervalued land sales in the past, he felt the planned use of the land looked “ideal.”
Bolton Council deputy leader Cllr Akhtar Zaman approved the land sale at £150,000.
