A STREET of Bolton homes is to be demolished -- because no one wants to live in them.

But the council-owned houses in Steele Gardens, Darcy Lever, will then be rebuilt and transformed to their former glory.

Plans to flatten all 12 of the properties -- which include 48 flats -- have now been agreed by Bolton Council.

Housing chiefs have revealed that work will start next month.

The work could include building a flat complex for the elderly. Steele Gardens, which is 67 years old, may also get a new name with its new look.

Today, residents of neighbouring streets spoke of their delight, saying the street had become an eyesore.

Initial plans have already been drawn up and residents were given a glimpse of them at an open day at New house Farm pavilion in Hollycroft Avenue.

The project is likely to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Only five of the rundown homes in Steele Gardens are occupied. The rest -- empty and boarded up -- had become haunts for drug dealers, vandals and arsonists and Bolton Council said that it could no longer find tenants for them.

Janet Hardy, of Hollycroft Avenue, said: "At the moment people are going around the back taking drugs. My son found some needles last year so I'm glad they're coming down.

"They should build something for the children to play on as well."

Ian Downs, aged 27, lives with his wife Diane, aged 29, and three-year-old daughter Dion next to Steele Gardens said the news was fantastic: "We have had to wake up to that every morning. It's disgusting. The whole of this community wants to live in a nice area."

The situation is similar to Tonge Moor's doomed De Lacy Drive. Plans were announced in March 2001 to demolish that vandal-plagued estate's 99 council-owned houses and build a new £4m estate. Work on the two year scheme is underway and the road will be reborn as Brierwood.

Steele Gardens' five remaining residents have been found alternative accommodation. Four moved to council houses nearby last October and one opted for a home in central Bolton.

A council spokesman said the development would increase the value of surrounding properties: "This will be a very positive exercise and we were delighted with the response of the residents surrounding the street."

Access roads and ginnels have now been sealed off. Bolton Council said it had also completed an original programme of public consultation and was "very happy" with its outcome.

Cllr Noel Spencer, Bolton Council's executive member for housing, said: "The buildings in Steele Gardens are like a lot of other older buildings in Bolton, past their sell-by date."