A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to mark the beginning of construction on a new housing development at the old Wortley High School campus in Leeds.

The project, which will see 59 new homes brought to the area, represents the first Keepmoat Homes development in West Leeds.

The MP for Leeds West, Rachel Reeves, showed support for the project at the ceremony last week.

"This site has been vacant for quite a long time, so it's really good to see work starting on this site," the MP said. "There is a huge demand for housing in West Leeds – particularly affordable housing, and so making use of brownfield sites like this is really important. It's great that Keepmoat are developing areas like these."

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The land, which was owned by Leeds City Council, will feature a range of three and four-bedroom houses, aimed at the first-time buyer market.

As part of their commitment to the local community and the wider city of Leeds, Keepmoat have pledged to support local people and help them into training and employment opportunities through sub-contractors, work placements and educational visits to the site.

Paul Oldridge, Regional Managing Director at Keepmoat Homes commented: "This site sits alongside the hugely successful ongoing Leeds Brownfield Programme, in turn really strengthening our relationship with Leeds City Council. This site is a key milestone for us, it's our first site in West Leeds and is close to our regional office

"We express our thanks to Leeds City Council, and Places for People, another of our long-term partners, who helped us get to where we are today, with their positivity and pragmatic approach to the planning progression and development."

The site builds on the success of the Leeds Brownfield Programme, where Keepmoat Homes has been working in close partnership with Leeds City Council to provide much-needed new homes. So far under the scheme, more than 193 homes have been delivered with a further 417 in the pipeline.

(CM/MH)