A NEW 19-home development behind a row of houses in Tyldesley has been given the green light by Wigan Council.

Eighteen detached, semi-detached and terraced houses will be built on overgrown land between houses on Crawford Avenue and Hindsford Brook.

This small development would be fronted by the current house at 55 Crawford Avenue which would be redeveloped – just a stones throw away from the town centre.

No objections have been logged by neighbours in the area.

The closest one of the new builds will get to a current house is 25m, an officer report states.

To avoid any overlooking of neighbours, the new dwelling at the entrance to the site would be set off the boundary with the neighbouring houses. This would be positioned so that it would not result in significant; overlooking, overshadowing or overbearing impact, a report claims.

The site was deemed not to be financially viable to make any of the homes affordable despite the minimum requirement in the borough being 25 per cent on new developments. However, the developer, Mr Michael Wedderburn, has been told he would need to contribute £80,000 towards future affordable home developments.

Normally this money would go towards local amenities such as play areas but recent developments have funded public open space and play improvements in the local area already. A five metre buffer from the water at the brook would also be required to prevent any adverse impacts on the water course or any animals accessing it.

Before any building starts, the two "non-native invasive species" of  Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed recorded on the land would need to be eradicated.