RESIDENTS in Whitefield have been given assurances by the Highways Agency that every effort will be made to return the properties that it bought for the M62 Relief Road to private ownership.

Around 270 homes were acquired by the Agency for the scheme before it was withdrawn from the roads programme.

Spokesman for the Highways Agency Lands and Compensation Division, Mr. Peter Davies commented "We intend to return the homes to private ownership as soon as we can.

"However, much depends on the state of the housing market which is why we are looking at a range of options for selling the homes that we currently own."

Mr. Davies added that homes had been offered to the original owners and 25 had shown interest in moving back.

Current tenants can also buy the homes in which they are living while others will be sold through estate agents or auctioned.

He stressed that all existing tenancy agreements will be honoured by the Agency and the body is issuing a newsletter to about 2,000 people in the area to keep them up to date.

The M62 relief road was withdrawn from the trunk road programme in November of last year but when it was withdrawn the Highways Agency was already committed to buying more than 300 properties in Whitefield.

Most were already owned by the Agency and rented on short term leases but now the Agency dosn't need them.

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