MYSTERY surrounds two Blackburn houses which have been left empty for thirty years.

Nobody has moved into the homes since the last brick was laid in the late 1960s and they have been left virtually as they were when the building work finished.

All the front windows are boarded up on the properties which are half way along Wensley Road and the gardens are overgrown.

But council officials say there is nothing they can do about the situation unless the bungalows are declared unsafe. Spokesman Suzanne Halliwell said: "We received a building regulation plan in 1967 which complied with everything the council wanted.

"But then suddenly the work stopped. The onus is now on the owners. Unless the bungalows are declared unsafe there is nothing the council can do."

Wensley Fold Councillor Don Rishton said it was the first time he had heard about the bungalows and the fact they had been empty for so long.

He added: "I'm intrigued myself and would like to find out the reason."

Mr Raymond Moulding, the owner of the buildings, is the boss of a building firm based in Bombay Street, Blackburn. He refused to comment.

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