A HOMEOWNER fears that Bolton Council has inadvertently issued thieves with an open invitation to visit him by demolishing a line of eyesore garages near his home.

The garages acted as a concrete fence alongside his home and his property boundary has been left wide open since they were knocked down.

The six privately-owned garages had fallen into disrepair in recent years, and children had been using one of them as a play den.

The local authority decided to pull them down, clearing the site of debris.

But that has left homeowner David Townley without a perimeter fence along the side of his modern terraced home, in Stockley Avenue, Breightmet.

His garden is now overlooked by homes on Greenroyd Avenue, a street which has been suffering problems with boarded up and abandoned homes, some of which have been vandalised. Mr Townley, aged 60, says he will not let his six-year-old son, Zach, play in the garden as he fears for his safety.

He said: "The garages gave me a perimeter wall.

"All I want is a solid replacement fence or wall to make my property and garden secure." The garages were built in the 1960s, the same time as the houses were erected.

Mr Townley, who bought his £46,000 home nearly four years ago, said: "The council says it's my responsibility to put up a proper fence, but I say it was they who knocked these garages down so they should pay."

Cllr Walter Hall, councillor for Bradshaw, has taken up the case. He said: "The garages were a disgrace, but the area is even worse now."

A council spokesman said: "The garages were in a dilapidated state and we were concerned for the safety of residents and local children.

"The garages may well be rebuilt in the next financial year, although the decision has yet to be made.

"But it is, however, Mr Townley's responsibility to provide a perimeter fence for his own property."