INVESTIGATIONS into contaminated areas of the Horwich Loco Works site are taking place to ensure it is safe before any homes are built.

Bolton Council made the assurance after concerns were raised about potentially-harmful substances on the land due to be regenerated into the 1,700 Rivington Chase development.

Site inspections carried out before outline planning permission was given in 2015 confirmed the presence of heavy metals, poly aromatic hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and asbestos containing materials (ACMs).

A council spokesman said: "Due to industrial activity that has taken place on this site historically, there is contamination in different locations across the site.

"Further site investigation is taking place in order to remediate the site prior to the construction of any homes."

The concerns were raised after Paul Whittingham, assistant director of planning at Bolton Council, gave an update on the scheme to Horwich Town Council.

Cllr Ken Denton said: "I want to know what is on there. Everybody knows about the asbestos but I'm more concerned about PCBs which if you get that on your skin it is a death sentence and it is the way it is being treated so lightly.

"It needs sorting out before any building takes place on that site."

The first application to construct 112 homes on the site was submitted by Bellway in July.

And Cllr Kath Schofield said: "They are building on the least contaminated area first. There isn't that much contamination where those houses are.

"From my husband's experiences, he knows exactly where everything is on that site. As you go further in and further in it gets worse and worse.

"I think it is going to affect somebody or a lot of people."

But in response, Mr Whittingham said the Bellway site was the 'easiest' to decontaminate and it would have to be done and validated before any homes are built.

Cllr Kevin McKeon said: "Civil engineers are used to dealing with contaminated areas. There are skills and procedures that enable this kind of work to be done satisfactorily.

"It is inconceivable that the council working with the Environment Agency would allow contamination of the sort that people are addressing.

"While contamination is an important issue that must be addressed, we must allow credit to the professionalism of those involved and while continuing to have concerns we must not employ alarmism."

The planning officer's report on the outline 1,700-home application, submitted by the now defunct Horwich Vision, stated the contamination derived from the locomotive works and large scale waste disposal in the northwest and southwest parts of the land.

The report read: "The site investigation reports conclude that in terms of potential risks to human health for those existing and future occupants, site employees and construction workers, there would be medium and high risk from soil based contamination and from the presence of asbestos across the site including the existing Horwich Locomotive Works estate and the sites to be developed in the southwest corner and northwest corners.

"The report also identifies that there would be high risks to ecology throughout the site and to its immediate environment from both high levels of phytotoxic substances within the soil itself and through the long-term uptake and absorption of such substances within any edible produce.

"The other medium and high risks from contamination at the site relate to the implications of high levels of sulphate and aggressive ground conditions on any existing and new utilities and pipe networks across the site, and existing and proposed concrete structures and capping layers."