Outline plans for a major mixed-use scheme featuring more than 1,000 new homes, which represent the next stage of development on Omega South in Warrington, have secured the green light from councillors.
The proposals by Omega Warrington Ltd (OWL) for 1,100 homes including 20 per cent starter homes, as well as shops, restaurants, cafes, a pub, a care home and a hotel, have been approved by Warrington Borough Council's planning committee. They are now being referred to the Department for Communities and Local Government for a final decision.
Work is already underway on part of Omega South to build a primary school that will serve existing local residents as well as the new community. The school, Barrow Hall, is scheduled to open in September 2016.
OWL is a joint venture between Miller Developments and KUC Properties in partnership with landowner the Homes and Communities Agency and supported by Warrington Borough Council and the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership.
Andrew Sutherland, joint managing director of Miller Developments, said: "This is a major milestone for Omega and Warrington.
"We hope that this will soon mean that we are able to bring forward a whole range of much-needed quality new housing, including affordable starter homes, for the area. Very importantly, this new development will also be supported by significant local transport infrastructure improvements and the new community will link into a 35-acre 'green heart' and a huge network of green spaces and cycle ways.
"Both new and existing residents will also benefit from new shops, leisure opportunities and community facilities which, we've heard from local residents, the area really needs.
"All of these different uses will complement the job opportunities within the growing business community already thriving on Omega; it will create the truly mixed community which OWL and its partners have been working hard to bring forward as part of a successful masterplan for Omega."
Deborah McLaughlin, executive director of North West at the Homes and Communities Agency, said it was great news that the application has been given the green light by Warrington.
She added: "It is also significant because 20 per cent of those homes will be starter homes for young people trying to get on the housing ladder, and will be sold with a discount of up to 20 per cent."
It is expected that the residential and mixed-use part of Omega will be delivered in phases over ten years, depending on market demand.
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