RESIDENTS say a house where a £1 million cannabis farm was discovered has been turned into a centre for wayward youths without owners obtaining planning permission.

People living on Victory Road, Little Lever, say police have already been called to the detached property on several occasions to deal with disturbances.

And it has emerged the centre was opened without the correct permission after bosses failed to apply to Bolton Council for planning approval.

Re-Trax, a registered charity that gives support to disadvantaged and disaffected youths has launched a residential training development centre at Victory House. The property is the former location of the Bolton area's largest ever cannabis farm.

In July, around 750 plants were found at the Victory Road house.

The Vietnamese-born owner, Huynh Hoang, aged 22, was given a 21 month jail term after drugs with the street value of £1 million were found by officers.

The property has been renamed Victory House and is leased to Re-Trax and now includes an office, lounge, training area and two bedspaces.

One of the charity's referral agents is the National Children Homes organisation and Re-Trax also works with youth offending and probation teams.

But council bosses have found out about the centre and given them 28 days to apply for permission to open as a residential development training centre.

If they fail to do so, enforcement action could be pursued and the premises could be shut down.

Neighbours are up in arms about the centre and they claim one youth regularly smokes cannabis out of an open window. Others have been seen drinking alcohol outside.

Dawn Whitelaw, a neighbour, said: "Nobody has told us what's going on. Music is always blaring out of the windows, often with offensive lyrics.

"I'm worried about letting my children play out near the centre. Police seem to be called there every day."

Further concerns have emerged after residents obtained a security checklist that detailed duties that took place inside the centre like corridor checks every 30 minutes and the number of sharp knives being counted each day.

But a spokesman for Re-Trax defended the centre, saying: "The place has been lying idle and previously attracted the most undesirable type of people when it was a drugs den.

"We are trying to work with people, have invited the council down and will soon organise an open day."

And he blamed any anti-social problems on youths from the neighbourhood who were gathering outside the centre to drink alcohol.

He did admit that one youth from the residential centre had been evicted after he was caught drinking alcohol on the premises.

But he denied that the youngsters at Re-Trax had previously been in trouble with the police, adding that they were generally disaffected from difficulties in their family life.

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: "We are aware of the situation and have visited the property and advised them that they need to apply for planning permission because the use has changed and the forms have been sent out."