A TROUBLED estate in Tonge Moor is on course to be demolished later this month and replaced by new homes.

Bolton Council is waiting for two residents to leave 99-home De Lacy Drive before the bulldozers can move in.

That is expected to happen by the end of October allowing housing chiefs to pursue their aim in wiping out drugs and crime in the area.

They, together with 65 per cent of the former residents, believed demolition of all the houses on the street would be the answer. But according to a Bolton Council spokesman, there has been a delay while the local authority deals with a new home for one tenant and waits for the tenancy agreement to run out for another.

Once all the homes are empty, workmen will set to work on transforming the area, creating 62 new houses. Of those, 47 will be family homes for sale and the other 17 will be housing association bungalows for elderly people. The proposals also include plans to extend the playing fields of neighbouring Tonge Moor Primary School.

Both plans were submitted by the authority's redevelopment partner, Manchester Methodist Housing. A council spokesman said: "The demolition will go ahead as planned once everyone has moved out which should be in around three to four weeks time."