A major new £18m housing development to provide more than 170 new homes in Ellesmere Port will help create almost 300 jobs including 100 construction roles, according to developers.

North Wales-based Macbryde Homes has received detailed planning permission from the borough council for 171 starter and family properties on a 12-acre brownfield site off Cromwell Road.

The homes are said to be among the first for open market sale planned in the town in nearly five years.

The development will be constructed in three phases over four years.

Of the 390 people expected to live there when the new build is complete, the developers believe that 190 will be employed and the new households will contribute approaching £2m to the local economy each year.

Land director for Macbryde Homes Philip Palmer said: “This is an important development for Ellesmere Port being one of the first private, new home developments for open market sale in the town since 2012.

“Our investment in the town is based on demand for new homes we are seeing across our portfolio and in our belief that Ellesmere Port is long overdue a significant development featuring quality starter and family homes.

“We estimate that in addition to fulfilling a local need for housing, the new development will contribute an additional £1.8m towards local spending power per annum, so benefiting the town as a whole.

“Part of the proposed development will also likely see us contribute more than £119,000 to local services and amenities too including sports pitches.”

The developers say they were keen to gain permission for the new build to go ahead ‘so we can provide these much needed quality new homes for Ellesmere Port’.

The development will feature a range of house types from two-bed homes to four-bedroom detached family properties.

Prices are expected to start from just over £100,000.

The site of the development was previously occupied by McAlpine but has been empty for more than 10 years. Work will begin straightaway.

It is argued the new homes on the vacant and empty land will make a valuable contribution to the town’s continued regeneration with Cromwell Road and its surrounds becoming a mainly residential area compared with its historic past.

Macbryde claim to have an ‘enviable reputation’ for designing and building exceptional, high quality new homes for sale.