DOZENS of new homes could be built on a fly-tipping blackspot.

Jaga Group Developments has applied to build 30 houses on an area of land between Farnworth and Great Lever.

The three and four-bedroom properties — a mix of detached and semi-detached — would be built on land off Crescent Road and Lynwood Avenue, should planning chiefs give the project the green light.

Ashby Close, also backs on to the are which is notorious for Japanese knotweed and as a dumping ground for fly-tippers.

Although the site falls within the Great Lever ward, it has also posed problems for Farnworth residents in Brentwood Drive and Ashby Close.

Farnworth ward councillor Cllr Jean Gillies said plans to bring the site into use were good news.

She said: “That land has been a nightmare, there’s lots of fly-tipping and it’s full of knotweed.

“All that land, at the moment, is a tipping ground and I’ve had constant problems having it cleaned up all the time.”

Cllr Gillies added: “It’s just been left to rack and ruin, it used to have a factory on their and it is a constant headache for all the people in Ashby Close and Brentwood Drive with fly-tipping and they’ve had loads of knotweed.”

But, despite council policy stating 35 per cent of new schemes must be made up of social and affordable housing, the proposals do not include any homes of this type.

The developer says that the it would not be financially viable to include affordable housing due to the “abnormal costs” associated with bringing the site into use.

These include eradicating Japanese knotweed, dealing with “considerable changes in level across the site” and the need to install a drainage pumping station.

However, Cllr Gillies expressed her disappointment over the absence of any social or affordable housing included in the plans.

She said:”I would welcome a good housing development but I would like to see affordable housing, like Gleesons do.”

Her comments were echoed by Great Lever councillor, Madeline Murray.

Cllr Murray said: “It’s a mess down there, and there’s Japanese knotweed all the way along that needs tidying up, so if we are going to have some nice houses along there I would welcome that.”

But, like Cllr Gillies, she she voiced concerns over the absence of any social or affordable housing.

She said: “Personally, I think we need a mix of large housing and some social housing.

“I know we have big families in some parts of but we want to have a mix.”