Farnworth: Bolton Council approves Dorset Close flats plan

This comes after Bolton Council decided to approve a plan to build a two to three story block of eight flats on Dorset Close in Farnworth.

Each of the flats will be self contained and built on what has until now been vacant land, which councillors felt had been an improvement on previous plans put to them.

Cllr Andy Morgan said: “There’s a more equal distribution between each apartment and now its pretty much equal between all of them.

“We’ve lost the two bedrooms, we’ve gone to one which means there’s less people going to be using the apartment block, therefore I think its an improvement.”

The plans have now been approved (Image: Hawthorn Design Partnership)

The committee heard how the block will not be a ‘care facility’ but instead will provide support to a range of people living there, including ex-service people who may be in need of assistance.

The site for the new block is not far from Farnworth town centre in what a Bolton Council report described as ‘already a densely populated area’ with buildings that are a mixture of type, size and architecture.

The site is currently vacant with no trees or vegetation but a ground floor slab still in place from garages which have since been demolished but which had previously occupied the area.

The land is currently vacant (Image: Bolton Council)

Cllr Nick Peel agreed that plans for self-contained flats were an improvement on the kinds of house of multiple occupancy applications they had previously dealt with.

But he felt there were still concerning issues about how much space tenants at the flats would have.

Cllr Peel said: “Really there does need to be a good look given to space standards for accommodation.”

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He added: “Those space standards really do need to be improved, otherwise for generations to come we’re going to continue to have inadequate housing.”

Cllr Elaine Sherrington also quired the size of the rooms and whether all of them come up to the space standards for one bedroom flats.

All of the councillors with the exception of Cllr Sherrington voted to approve the plan.