A FORMER council depot building could be transformed into 19 new homes under plans unveiled by Bolton Council .

An outline application has been submitted to turn the Park Road site in Westhoughton into a mixture of detached, semi-detached and terraced houses.

The proposals include provision for 38 new car parking spaces although it is not yet clear how many bedrooms each of the houses will have.

The design and access statement submitted alongside the plans details how the new houses will be “two-storey” with roof living space.

Rough plans show there will be nine separate buildings and parking at the back of the homes.

Six of the houses will front on to Park Road, to ensure the development is not completely “inward-looking”, with vehicle access situated on a side road.

Three of the houses will be built next to six existing homes fronting on to George Street.

The remaining 10 houses will be accessible via a cul-de-sac Neighbours in Park Road have raised concerns at the impact the development will have on parking and traffic congestion.

If this outline application is successful, Bolton Council will liaise with architects and designers and produce more detailed future plans for the site.

The Park Road depot was used for the final time last year, having previously been an overnight store for council refuse vehicles.

Some existing buildings on the site would need to be demolished to make way for the new houses and Cllr David Chadwick, for Westhoughton South, said the fact the site is brownfield makes it attractive for new housing plans.

He said: “There are not many sites such as this available in Bolton so I think this is a sensible idea.

“There have been concerns expressed by some residents on the section of Park Road near the Bethel Church, who were cut off from the rest of Leigh Road when Cricketers Way was built.

“The residents there are becoming unhappy because they worry that people will park their cars near their homes so they can walk into Market Street.

“They would like to have a residents-only zone created but there are only three or four locations with this in the whole of Bolton and we only consider them in exceptional circumstances.

“There are 38 parking spaces, which is plenty for 19 houses, so if the plans are approved it should not cause any future problems for the residents in Leigh Road.”

Westhoughton town councillors have unanimously voted to give their approval to the scheme, despite raising reservations about the potential for parking problems.