FOR once, the ruling administration on Bolton Council and the opposition are almost singing from the same hymn sheet, when it comes to social housing.

But while the Conservative-run council is championing their masterplan for the borough, Labour opponents are questioning why there's an ongoing housing crisis.

Cllr Toby Hewitt, the borough's strategic housing and planning cabinet member, believes affordable housing is key as more people decide to live and work in Bolton.

Using sites such as Rivington Chase and the former Moor Lane station, which are classified as brownfield, is also a key factor to this so that the borough does not become overdeveloped.

He said: “More people are choosing to live and work in Bolton, and with that comes increased demand for housing. Affordable housing, to both rent and buy, is a crucial element of many current and upcoming development projects across the borough.

“Recent examples include affordable housing as part of the Rivington Chase scheme and the redevelopment of Moor Lane which received planning permission last week.

“These new homes are being delivered on brownfield land, helping deliver affordable homes while protecting our greenbelt from overdevelopment.”

Bolton’s Labour group says it ‘fully supports’ initiatives to create more affordable homes in the borough, but that the housing crisis is one of the Conservative’s own making.

Cllr Richard Silvester, shadow cabinet member for housing and strategic planning, said: “The Labour group fully supports initiatives to create more affordable homes across the borough, either affordable to buy or affordable to rent and using vacant brownfield land to do this.

“The present council is actually continuing the work of the previous Labour administration, which along with key partners such as Bolton At Home and The Irwell Valley Housing Association utilised brownfield land to create affordable homes.

“An example is the mixed development of houses and apartments on the former council car park at Chorley Street, which is now nearing completion.

“The work to identify brownfield sites across the Borough as part of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, now re-named Places for Everyone was undertaken by the Labour Council so of course we would wish to see the work which Labour started off to continue.

“We do however have to ask after 11 years of a Conservative government, why there is such a housing crisis and the answer is very simple.

“The Conservative government has done very little to address the crisis and indeed has made it worse through many of their policies, taking away the subsidy for developers to de-contaminate former industrial land so that the incentive instead is for green open land to be developed with houses that are far from affordable for many people.

“With the Conservatives planning proposals paused in Parliament, they have no strategy to meet their housing targets and deliver the new homes that the country needs.

“Labour is therefore watching very closely what the government and the Conservative administration of Bolton Council is doing and we will hold them to account if the pledges and targets which they have made for 2023 are not delivered.”