THE number of new affordable waterside homes will hit almost 240 after the latest housing development in Leigh has been approved.

The site of the former Flex Fitness gym on West Bridgewater Street will be transformed into six homes and four apartments, a short distance from the Bridgewater Canal.

Developers, MCI Developments Ltd, will demolish the old Bridgewater Gym and erect five two-bedroom houses, one three-bedroom house and a building containing four flats.

This new development would be added to the Waterside Point development of 226-homes – currently under construction just south of Leigh town centre.

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Your Housing Group would also manage these properties, just as they do with Waterside Point. All the homes in this development would be affordable (maximum of 80 pc of market value) and be completed with solar panels on the roofs.

This is highlighted as an ideal location for development due to the town centre being 300m to the north which offers a wide range of shops, services and local facilities. This latest development falls under the outline application for up to 372 homes that was approved back in 2017.

Once these homes are built the total new homes in the area would be 236 – all priced at affordable rates. This overall site would form a large proportion of the affordable housing requirement in the borough, with Wigan Council setting a minimum requirement of 1,000 homes a year built between 2011 and 2026.