BULLDOZERS will this week start knocking down part of an eyesore estate as its £2.5 million transformation finally kicks into action.

Families living next to the boarded-up houses in the Abbey Lane area of Leigh are celebrating after hearing their neighbourhood is due to change dramatically.

Work on Melrose Avenue and Whalley Grove will include demolishing 18 former council houses and extensive refurbishment work on 66 other properties which once belonged to the local authority.

It is hoped the new-look estate, with many environmental improvements, will become a place where people want to live.

The work was due to take place 12 months ago, but another partner pulled out, putting the brakes on the scheme.

Families in the area were becoming increasingly frustrated as they continued to live next to derelict houses.

Wigan Council's Director of Housing, Peter Gee, said: "We have been striving to get this scheme under way for some considerable time and are sorry that residents have had to put up with the empty properties for so long.

"Over the last two years the hard-to-let houses have become an eyesore, as tenants have been rehoused in preparation for the redevelopment scheme."

The work in Abbey Lane is a joint project between Wigan Council and Lovell, which claims to be Britain's leading provider of affordable housing.

Paul Hulme, Regional Director from Lovell Partnerships, said the company was delighted to be involved in the scheme and investing in the Leigh area.

He added: "We will be offering good quality refurbished homes for sale at affordable prices and intend to open a show home in the near future to enable people to view the spacious accommodation that we will have on offer."

The Mayor of Wigan, Cllr Joan Hurst, officials from the local authority and representatives from Lovell will be in the area today (Friday) to witness the start of demolition.