PLANS for a housing estate which could help regenerate part of Blackburn could be given the go-ahead.

Earlier this year it was revealed Alaska Street in Blackburn is set to get its first estate of modular factory-built homes.

The 73 two, three and four-bedroomed houses in the Infirmary area will be built by social housing provider Places For People for affordable rent.

The £11million estate is among the first in the UK to use the revolutionary technique which sees the homes built in sections in a factory and then transported by lorry for swift assembly on site.

A planning application for the development was put in to Blackburn with Darwen Council and now officers are recommending planning committee members pass the proposals when they meet next week.

With a build time of 64 weeks compared to two years for traditionally-built homes, bosses at Places For People believes modular construction can help meet the nation’s housing needs.

It hopes the first tenants will move in before Christmas with the entire estate completed by the end of next year.

Work on the ‘brownfield’ site, where 146 pre-1919 terraced houses were demolished in 2010, is expected to start in August with the first deliveries of the four to six modules for each property in November.

Borough regeneration boss, Cllr Phil Riley said: “This is an exciting and trail blazing scheme.

“It is a first for Blackburn and if successful I would hope to see more such developments to meet the borough’s need for affordable homes.”

In a report to go before the committee, senior planning officer Alec Hickey said: “The proposal will deliver a high quality bespoke housing development which will widen the choice of family housing in the borough.”

“It supports the borough’s planning strategy for housing growth as set out in the core strategy, and also delivers housing at a site which is allocated for housing development in the adopted Local Plan Part 2.

“The proposal is also satisfactory from a technical point of view, with all issues having been addressed through the application, or capable of being controlled or mitigated through planning conditions.”

About 100 consultation letters were posted to neighbouring properties and just two letters of objection were received in return.

Among the concerns cited were poor access, increased traffic, crime, loss of light and possible damp to properties.