WORK to develop 17 houses and apartments in Tockholes Road, Darwen, is due to start this year after the plans were given the go-ahead.

The site will be transformed by Clitheroe-based IWA Architects, with developers Darwen-based Hampshire Associates, but the area of woodland at the top of the site will be kept.

There will be both three and five-storey blocks, which include small and large family houses, as well as modern flats with balconies.

The development will also feature private and public gardens with bridge links to the upper levels and lift access.

Architects have designed the project so the tallest buildings are on the lowest parts of the site and the car parking is buried into the hill, making the buildings seem two or three-storey at street level.

This site has been awaiting development for more than a decade as no previous proposals were suitable. Work is expected to start in latter half of 2005.