AN ‘affordable housing’ development has been earmarked for the site of a Great Harwood church.

Developers are consulting with residents close to land which has been empty since 2009, when St John’s Church in St Hubert’s Road was demolished.

In a letter posted through doors, MCI Developments said it planned to build nine family homes.

It invited views and comments on proposals prior to formal submission of the application.

It added: “The homes would be built to modern energy-efficient standards, and bring back into use underused vacant site which, since the demolition of the church, has become a blight on the area.”

St John’s was an Anglican parish church built in 1911. It was consecrated a year later by the Bishop of Manchester.

The homes would be ‘traditional two-storey homes’, and available for rent at no more than 80 per cent of a market rent, in order to attract tenants who can’t afford to buy or rent market-value properties.

Local councillor Noordad Aziz welcomed the proposal.

He said: “If the site is being brought back into use – because it’s a bit of an eyesore – I’m all for it.

“We have lost a community building but it’s an eyesore on one of the main roads in Great Harwood. As long as they get the right people in I’m all for it.”

Although there is no mention of the number of bedrooms, each house would contain, ‘traditional two-storey homes’ rarely have just one bedroom.

Coun Aziz said: “In the borough, with the bedroom tax, there’s a shortage of one-bedroom houses, but given the demographic of Great Harwood and that area, I don’t think one-bedroom houses would work.”