MORE Woodnook properties will be compulsorily purchased so they can be refurbished as part of a £10million regeneration project.

A total of 17 properties in Booth and Hudson Street - all but one of which are empty - will be refurbished to prvide three and four bedroomed accommodation.

The council added the properties to an existing CPO for the Woodnook area after negotiations to buy four of the properties stalled.

Failure to add these properties would have been ‘detrimental to the overall transformation of the area, ultimately threatening the financial viability of the whole scheme’, a council report said.

Hyndburn Council deputy leader, Councillor Clare Pritchard said: “One side of the street was always going to be done so we are doing the other side.

“Some of the houses will be knocked through to create four-bedroom properties.”

Coun Pritchard said the remaining occupant will move out of the property.

She said: “We have been very amicable and the residents of the area are very happy with the scheme we are doing.

“Everything is still on target.

“The constructors are in there now doing the showrooms, which will be ready in a few weeks.

“Adding these properties just continues to add to the success of the scheme we are doing now.

“We are showing there is an alternative to knocking old properties down.”

The project is also aimed at making the homes affordable and efficient.

Future tenants will be out of the Twin Valleys Management programme, in a bid to end problems with empty homes and nuisance tenants.

The first families are expected to be able to move next summer.