A CALL for Bolton at Home to reverse its decision to close its office in Westhoughton has been made.

The housing provider had a presence in the town for the 780 Bolton at Home residents who live there, with a neighbourhood office based in Westhoughton Town Hall, in Market Street.

But Bolton at Home, which manages the borough’s housing stock on behalf of Bolton Council, closed the office earlier this month.

If residents want to speak to a housing officer in person they will have to travel to offices in Pikes Lane, Deane, which from some areas of Westhoughton is two bus rides away.

Westhoughton Town Council has spoken out against the decision.

Cllr Andy Morgan said: “The Washacre estate has been identified as one of the most deprived areas in the borough and we are asking them to traipse into Bolton to sort out housing issues when they live in Westhoughton.”

Leader of the council Harry Bowling said: “We want Bolton at Home back in Westhoughton.”

A spokesman for Bolton at Home defended the decision.

He said: “Decreasing numbers of council-owned homes in Westhoughton, since the introduction of ‘right-to-buy’, has resulted in the number of customer enquiries dealt with by the neighbourhood office unable to justify the number of staff required to keep the office open.

“Of the 780 council-owned homes in the area, more than 200 are in sheltered schemes for older people, who have daily contact with their customer support officers.

“While we believe that relocating staff from Westhoughton Town Hall is a more effective way for us to use our resources across the borough, measures are in place to ensure our customers living in Westhoughton are not disadvantaged by this move.”