THE first tenants have moved into a new affordable housing development in time to see in the New Year ­— in their home town.

The Bolton at Home led Horwich housing scheme has been built on a derelict former social club site in Berne Avenue to help people stay in the area.

The 21 new two and three-bedroom homes received hundreds of expressions of interest from local people through the Homes for Bolton home finder service, proving, says the housing provider, the need for more new affordable homes in the area.

The development has a local lettings policy which ensures 70 per cent of the homes go to people with a connection to the local area.

The first tenants began moving in on Thursday 16 December after the development was handed over to Bolton at Home by main contractor McCauls.

Emily and Tom Mayo were among the first tenants to move in with their children aged 10 and six.

Emily said: “I grew up in Horwich and we have family here too, but we could never have afforded to live here if we’d stayed in the private rented sector. We love the extra space we’ve got now, especially as I’m working from home and it’s also handy for my husband to get to work.

“The kids love having their own room now and a garden to play in. We’d been on the housing waiting list for years so this is like having our dreams come true.”

Jon Lord, Group Chief Executive of Bolton at Home, added: “These homes are allowing local people to stay close to their families and maintain their local connections in Horwich, an area where many people are priced out of home ownership. It’s great to see these families moving into their new home in time for Christmas.

“The other benefit of us building new homes like these is that they allow us to generate income that we can reinvest in our existing homes and neighbourhoods. As well as our new-build programme, we invest around £38m each year on tenant’s homes through repairs and maintenance works and improvement programmes such as kitchen and bathroom upgrades and improved energy efficiency.”

Joe McCaul, director and construction manager of McCauls, said: “We are delighted to get these families in their new home and to finish on time despite difficult circumstances. This was our first affordable housing project and it’s been a pleasure working with Bolton at Home who we look forward to working with again in the future.”

In 2018, Bolton at Home announced plans to create 1,400 new homes over five years through a mix of new-build development and acquiring new homes from private developers under section 106 agreements. This has created a broad mix of homes for rent or shared ownership.

Sites for the new homes include the former Bolton bus station to build more than 200 homes.