Building work underway on 168 new homes across Little Lever and Horwich, Bolton

The houses will be built across Little Lever and Horwich by Bolton at Home, as part of a bid to help more people find affordable places to live.

One hundred and sixty-eight new homes will be built, including an extra care facility for over 55s, dubbed Lever Gardens, featuring 62 one and two-bedroom apartments and six bungalows.

Company chief executive Jon Lord said: "New housing has to help people in a wide range of circumstances, which is why we’re developing a broad mix of new properties including homes for rent, some for shared ownership and supported housing.

"These latest affordable homes will offer that choice in the areas where people need them most.

"The new homes won’t just benefit the people living there.

"They help us to generate income that we can reinvest to improve our older properties, provide important community services, and keep rent levels affordable. It’s great to see these new developments of ours starting on site across Bolton."

The Little Lever and Horwich projects are part of a strategy set out by the housing group in 2017 to build 1,400 new homes in the five-year period between 2018 and 2023.

At Little Lever, Bolton at Home is working with Caddick Construction on the Lever Gardens project, while in Horwich it is working in partnership with Irwell Valley Homes.

The Horwich plans will see 47 new homes for what the developers call "affordable rent and shared ownership" on land off Singleton Avenue, while 53 homes with the same aim in mind are being built at Rivington Chase.

Contractor Whitfield and Brown is working with Bolton at Home to build the homes at Singleton Avenue, Horwich, while the Rivington Chase homes are being built by Lane End.

On top of the plans already now in motion, Bolton at Home has announced that it has also acquired more than 50 new-build homes from private housebuilders and developers under planning agreements in the current financial year.