WORK is set to start on a 1,700-home "new town" at the former Horwich Loco Works — after town hall chiefs signed a £9.7 million deal with developers.

Preliminary work on the ambitious Rivington Chase project could begin in the next fortnight.

Bolton Council’s planning committee approved the plan from developers Horwich Vision last year — but since then negotiations have been taking place regarding the contributions that should be made to the local area and community.

That deal has now been agreed — and will see the developers contribute £9.7 million towards local education.

Just under half of the funding will be used to refurbish Chorley New Road Primary School and the rest could be put towards future secondary school needs in the area.

There will also be £380,000 put towards healthcare in the area. A number of major road junctions are also set to be expanded and improved.

The outline application for the development of the 189-acre brownfield site includes 50 acres of open space and 20 acres of land for business development.

But the key area of the application revolves around the planned 1,700 new homes — a vital chunk of the council’s house building commitments.

Horwich Vision is a partnership between Bluemantle and Orbit (part of the Emerson Group).

Mark Caldwell, chief executive of Bluemantle, said the group now wants to see houses being built “as soon as possible”.

He said: “It is great that we have now been given this consent and we are very much looking at moving to the first phase of development and getting some houses built.

“There is still a lot of work to do and it is impossible to give real dates at this time but we want to get moving as soon as possible.

“It is very important to take time over the next steps and we will always have the interests of the local community at heart.”

Throughout the planning process, local residents and community groups have raised concerns about a range of issues regarding the project.

The chief concerns include the effect the development will have on an already struggling road network, the impact on local schools and health centres and the potential contamination that lies on the site from its industrial history.

Council leader Cliff Morris said these issues will be dealt with in a proper manner.

He said: “This is not going to be easy — it has to be a clear site and you may see some work in the next fortnight taking place to bore down and find out what is there.

“It is also important to get the road infrastructure right and get traffic flowing correctly and work could also start on that area soon.”

The developers are looking at creating five new access points to the site as well as improving and expanding nearby junctions at the Beehive roundabout, the Spirit of Sport roundabout as well as at Junction 6 of the M61 and at the junction between the A6 and De Havilland Way.

There is disappointment among some that there are no plans to build sports pitches within the development.

There are also no immediate plans to provide funding for the preservation of four key heritage buildings, labelled the “heritage core”.

Stuart Whittle, chairman of the Horwich Heritage society, said: “We are disappointed that no money has been allocated for the preservation of the heritage core buildings. We are still clinging to the hope that alternative uses can be found for those buildings.”