Show homes have gone up on a new £18m freehold housing development in Ellesmere Port said to be experiencing phenomenal demand.
Oakley Park, located on a 12-acre brownfield site off Cromwell Road, consists of 171 two, three and four-bedroom freehold homes to be developed by North Wales based Macbryde Homes.
The show homes comprise a three-bedroom semi and three and four bed detached dwellings although when completed the estate will have nine different house types.
Speaking at the launch weekend, Caryl Russell, sales and marketing manager at Macbryde, said: “The homes we’re developing at Oakley Park are the first to be made available for open market sale in Ellesmere Port for almost five years. Ever since launching the sales office in April we’ve enjoyed considerable interest.”
The housebuilder says it has already secured 25 reservations of the first release of 30 properties with over 100 interested viewers over the show home weekend ‘which serves as a stark reminder of just how desperately needed new starter and family homes are in this area’.
The new build on the edge of town centre site is expected to create almost 300 jobs, including 100 construction roles, according to the family owned business.
The firm feels the need for more homes has never been as pronounced as it is now and suggests Ellesmere Port is ‘well overdue’ a significant development of the type proposed at Oakley Park. It will serve as a ‘significant boost’ to the local economy it hopes.
Director Ruth Macbryde suggests: “This level of interest serves to highlight just how desperately needed new homes in the north west of England are.”
She added: “Oakley Park presents affordable family homes in an area where there has been a lack of significant development in recent years.
“We’re finding the site is particularly popular with first time buyers, many of whom are utilising the Help to Buy incentives to purchase their new home.
“There is much debate around what can be done to expedite greater levels of building to address current demand. It’s our feeling that the successful identification and allocation of new sites, which should be a mix of both green and brownfield sites, is key to enabling us to keep delivering homes at a rate that will keep up with increasing demand.”
Following confirmation at an earlier stage the homes would be freehold, Ellesmere Port and Neston MP Justin Madders (Lab), who is campaigning against leasehold houses being built in the town, said: “The vacant land on Cromwell Road has been an eyesore for many years so I warmly welcome this new development which will transform and regenerate the area.
“I am also extremely pleased to see that the houses are being sold on a freehold basis which I firmly believe should be the case with all houses. If Macbryde Homes are able to offer these new build homes as freehold, Redrow and other developers have absolutely no excuse for not doing the same.
“I continue to look forward to confirmation that they will end this unacceptable policy.”
The park is described as within walking distance of Ellesmere Port train station and is said to have ‘enviable rail and road links’ with the north west.
