HCA agrees development deal with David Wilson
More than 100 homes are to be built at Sandymoor in Halton, after the Homes & Communities Agency secured David Wilson Homes as its development partner for the site.
The 19-acre site has been opened up for development after the HCA invested £3.7m to deliver flood protection works and road infrastructure. Part of this funding has come from the Public Land Initiative, a £100m nationwide effort to get land out to market to support the construction of up to 100,000 homes.
The scheme will include seven acres of public open space for the residents, which will also protect and preserve the site's ecological diversity. As part of the development, David Wilson Homes will be required to deliver upfront road infrastructure works to provide key links within the site.
The housing is part of the wider development of the area, which forms part of Runcorn East's key area of change as outlined within Halton's adopted core strategy. The HCA is the majority landowner at Sandymoor, which in total has the capacity for up to 750 new homes, with developers Morris already building 219 houses and another road on another part of the site.
Deborah McLaughlin, executive director for the HCA in the North West, said: "This scheme will be fantastic news for Halton, and the new homes will play a vital role in helping the wider region to meet its growth ambitions. It is great to see that we are using public land assets innovatively to deliver homes more quickly, and to enable local authorities to achieve their strategic ambitions."
David Wilson Homes is expected to submit a planning application shortly, with construction due to begin on site in March 2015 subject to satisfactory planning consent.
