NEW homes for medical staff are to be created next to the Royal Bolton Hospital as part of a new housing development.

Bolton Council is inviting tenders for a new development on the site of former sheltered flats for homeless families at Clare Court, in Exeter Avenue, Farnworth.

And up to one-third of the site will be set aside for hospital "key workers" after planners included the condition in its development brief.

The council will also ensure part of the development is affordable housing for families on low incomes.

Cllr Ebrahim Adia, executive member for development, said: "It's certainly a council priority to ensure there's sufficient affordable housing in Bolton.

"In this particular case, because Clare Court is almost alongside the hospital, it makes a lot of sense that the brief requires any housing developer to allocate a substantial part of their development to key worker accommodation."

It is not yet known exactly how many homes would be built on the 1.45-hectare site but it is expected that it would be more than 30.

The site is likely to include a mix of two and three-storey homes, including apartments, semi-detached and detached properties.

A courtyard-style development is recommended in the planning brief, with homes set around a car park and communal "green".

Clare Court was purpose-built as a hostel and its flats were later used to house homeless families.

However, the accommodation was replaced last year by 24 new flats at Benjamin Court when councillors decided they were too old to be brought up to scratch.

Most of the homes set aside for hospital staff would be apartments.