Promenade Estates, with its partner MCI Developments, has secured planning consent for 170 houses on a prominent canal-side site near Ellesmere Port town centre.

The 10-acre plot, on Meadow Lane, is well located close to Ellesmere Port railway station and to the M53 motorway. It previously had planning permission for 179 houses which had lapsed when the site was acquired by Promenade from Hansteen Holdings PLC in January 2019.

“We’re delighted with the outcome, which fits very much with our ‘brownfield first’ strategy,” said Promenade managing director Dan Hynd. The company recently celebrated securing consent for 1,100 homes on a former glassworks in St Helens and remains ‘on the look-out’ for similar opportunities, says Hynd.

“A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to secure this consent,” said Alex Wood, regional managing director of MCI Developments, which is part of Keepmoat Homes. “We are now focused on concluding discussions regarding the site’s sale to a housing partner and will announce this in due course.” 

Mr Wood also confirmed that, subject to conclusion of these ‘positive negotiations’, the company is aiming to be on site to begin building the new homes in August. “We have a long-standing specialism in building high quality affordable homes for registered providers and look forward to delivering an excellent scheme for the people of Ellesmere Port, on a site that has been derelict for over 15 years.”

The consent is for a mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4-bed units and these will likely be delivered for affordable rent, rent to buy and shared ownership tenures.  Planning consultants were Pegasus Group’s Liverpool office with MCI Developments dealing with detailed design in house.