A COMPLEX of flats for young mothers and pregnant teenagers will be built in Radcliffe.

Planning bosses unanimously approved the application to build the twelve flats on disused land next to houses on Bury Road at a meeting of the planning control committee on Tuesday (Oct 22).

Earlier in the day they visited the site where they met with angry residents who object to the scheme.

Mr Steve Ormrod said: "I am appalled at the prospect of having to reside opposite such an establishment. It is not the building that I am opposed to, but its intended use, the residents it will house and the visitors it will receive."

Another resident, Miss Helen Burton, fears it will result in a drop in property values.

The flats will accommodate mums and mums-to-be aged between 16 and 20. There are plans to create office space, a creche, laundry, common room, meeting room, training rooms to teach the girls mothering skills, and a nine space car park.

There is also a possibility that a public work of art would be sited at the development.

A petition signed by those living nearby failed to sway the decision makers who have given full planning permission to Manchester Methodist Housing Association.

Householders are afraid that the occupants may bring unwanted attentions from ex-partners, thereby creating disturbances, and that in the future the flats could be given over to drug abusers and asylum seekers.

They are also concerned that traffic and congestion will be added to an already busy road and that industrial traffic to adjacent warehousing would create a hazard to young children and mothers with prams.

But at Tuesday's meeting Coun Bob Bibby said: "This type of establishment is needed. There will be no hanky panky around the site and it will be very well run."

He added: "There is a fear that people will be violent drug addicts, but how many people have fallen pregnant simply through ignorance? These young women will be able to get the help they need to be good parents."