UP to 2,000 new homes could be built in Huncoat after the area was granted ‘housing zone’ status by the government.

The plans for the ‘garden village’ site will include development at the former power station, which will be used to create new jobs.

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Housing zone status gives Hyndburn Council priority access to an £18million government fund for planning work and project management.

Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said: “I think it’s good news. The site has been redundant and vacant for a long, long time now.

“It’s good to see the potential cash injection from the government, which is needed to clear the site.

“It’s then going to be important that we get the right mixture of housing involved, certainly some for elderly people would be needed.”

The decision was welcomed at a cabinet meeting of the borough council recently when it was said between 800 and 2,000 houses will be built if work goes ahead with the project.

The council is seeking £374,000 from the government’s Large Sites and Housing Zones Capacity Fund to support the required project management work set out.

A masterplan will now be drawn up in consultation with people in the area and planning applications could be submitted starting next year.

Cllr Bernard Dawson, who represents the area, said: “It’s an interesting development and it’s good to see this sort of interest being shown in Huncoat.

“It’s a massive project and would see a big investment.

“It’s still early days and there are of course several issues that would have to be tackled.

“Roads and infrastructure would obviously have to be looked at if the plans were to go ahead.

“But housing in Hyndburn is an issue that needs to be tackled, and I welcome that this is being looked at.”

The aim of the masterplan is to ‘help accelerate housing growth’ and ‘promote the development of a high quality aspirational neighbourhood’.

The sites within Huncoat housing zone comprise brownfield land and some greenfield land designated for housing and employment by the council’s core strategy.

The initiative is part of the government’s policy to accelerate new house building on brownfield land and £3billion has been made available nationally.