TENS of thousands of pounds have been handed over to Bolton Council to get diggers moving and house-building projects back on track.

The local authority is in the top 20 per cent of the country for giving the most approvals — more than 24 — for major residential developments.

Now it has been given £50,000 to reduce delays in getting builders on to the land so they can develop the properties for “local families”.

The money is a slice of a £3 million government fund to help work get moving on sites that have been given planning permission but are tied up in “red tape” while technical issues are resolved.

However, one senior councillor said it was economic policies which were preventing diggers from getting on to land approved for housing.

Bolton Council is one of 60 local authorities to have received money, with the government saying the successful authorities are those where large housing developments have been agreed and where they have shown how the money will help them tackle planning barriers and move forward with development.

Recently, permission was given to build a new “town” on the site of the former Horwich Loco Works Councillors voted to grant outline permission for the development of the 189-acre brownfield site, which will see 50 acres of open space and 20 acres of land suitable for business development created alongside the 1,700 new homes.

The plans, which could take up to 15 years to complete, will now be handed to the council’s director of development and regeneration, who will iron out any legal issues and various conditions, after which work can start.

The money, says the government, will resolve issues, following the approval of outline or full planning permission, such as “securing reserved matters consent or discharging conditions”, which, for example, could involve access.

Last August, a major £9 million home-building programme was announced to tackle Bolton’s housing shortage — creating 89 new affordable homes.

Cllr Nick Peel, who sits on Bolton Council’s planning committee, said there was no planning backlog.

He said: “There is a housing shortage in Bolton but it is not the planning process which slows down house-building.

“The government blames local authorities for housing shortages but it is the wider economic policies the government needs to look at.

“We will make good use of the money. Our planning process is efficient while at the same time carrying out the necessary checks and balances and not rushing them through.

“We will make the process even more efficient, but the reason why work does not follow after approval is granted is not because of red tape, it is because the developers can still not acquire finance and the government needs to look at its economic policies.”

The government says the £3 million fund will help deliver up to 25,000 new homes across the country on sites that have been given planning permission but remain caught up in red tape.