PLANS to build 30 houses at a "neglected" site near a reservoir have been allowed to go ahead after concerns over flooding caused months of delays to the development.

A mixture of three and four-bedroom detached and semi-detached houses are set to be built on the land west of Crescent Road and Lynwood Avenue in Farnworth.

Councillors on the planning committee voted in favour of the development at the town hall on Thursday.

This comes after the application was deferred by the planning committee in February to allow planning officers to assess the future flood risk status of Doe Hey Reservoir.

At the time, members of the planning committee were contacted by local anglers objecting to the application, according to Cllr Sean Hornby – but he said he received no objections to this revised proposal.

Residents had also raised concerns about the site being a historic landfill.

A Dam Breach Analysis report commissioned by Jaga Group Developments recommended raising floor levels of the proposed houses, reinforcing the embankment and cleaning a nearby culvert.

The developer has committed to paying for some of this work to address the flood risk.

However, this means it cannot afford to make financial contributions to local services and infrastructure because of these added "abnormal" costs.

Cllr Hornby said he was concerned that the applicant had not committed to making any Section 106 contributions.

But town hall planners said the council would reassess the financial viability of these payments at a later stage.

Despite his concerns, the Little Lever and Darcy Lever councillor praised the applicant and spoke in favour of the proposal.

He said: "I think the applicant has done a good job with regard to addressing the concerns that this committee had.

"It's in a beautiful area Doe Hey, around that area of Farnworth and Harper Green. I welcome this and I thank the applicant for listening to what this committee has said."

Cllr Bob Allen said he was satisfied that the developer had taken steps to address the concerns raised by the council about flooding.

But he cast doubts over whether the Ashby Close culvert would be cleaned as proposed.

Under the plans which were approved, Network Rail is responsible for the works to the culvert.

He said: "I'm concerned that Network Rail are not the best in the world for keeping to these things."

Deputy chairman of the planning committee, Cllr Mohammed Ayub said the development will be improve the area.

The committee voted unanimously to approve the plans.