A major new housing development for more than 100 new homes has been given the green light.

In total 142 houses will now be built over a former tarmac factory off Stopes Road in Little Lever.

Permission had already been granted for 132 homes two years ago, with a meeting at Bolton Town Hall agreeing to increase this total by 10.

Cllr David Meehan, who represents Little Lever, said: “I’m minded to be supportive of the application.”

He added: “It’s formally been a tarmac works, it’s already been approved already and the extra 10 houses will have very little impact really on the development.”

The Bolton News: The site off Stopes Road in Little LeverThe site off Stopes Road in Little Lever (Image: Google Maps)

Sean Taylor, representing developers the Harworth Group, told the members that the plan would provide family homes and would help Bolton meet its housing requirements in the coming years.

He said that the principal of building houses, which will be a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom homes, on the site had already been “firmly established".

As well as the houses, the proposal also a village green site and a play area.

The Bolton News: More than 140 homes have been proposedMore than 140 homes have been proposed (Image: The Harworth Group)

Bolton Council officers had already recommended that the scheme be approved.

The proposal was first lodged in 2020 with outline approval having been granted by Bolton Council in June 2021.

But the plans needed a fresh vote after the developers proposed increasing the total number of houses.

Meeting at Bolton Town Hall to debate the proposal, the planning committee heard how The Harworth Group also pledged to help contribute to secondary school places and highways in the area.

This was meant to reduce the impact on services in the area the development would have.

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Committee member Cllr Andy Morgan, who represents Heaton, Lostock and Chew Moor, said that he was also minded to support the scheme given the wider effect it could have on the area.

He said: “It’ll have a massive impact but in a positive way, because its been quite a dirty industrial site.”

He added: “I think it’s a really positive development, it’s a positive for Little Lever and I’m happy to support it.”

The committee voted unanimously to approve the scheme meaning that the work can now go-ahead.