Plans for a new high-quality residential development in South East Northumberland are set to be unveiled by a regional developer.

Banks Property is seeking to build up to 190 family homes on a 7.8 hectare site on the south western edge of Ashington, which will be accessed by a new priority road junction onto Wansbeck Road.

Around 75 jobs will be directly supported on site during the construction of the new homes, along with a further 63 jobs off site, and a range of contract opportunities will be made available to local suppliers for different aspects of the project’s development.

The family firm is now set to hold two initial consultation events later this month where local people can book an appointment to meet with a member of the Banks team to find out more about what’s being proposed, as well as raise questions and make suggestions for how the development could benefit the local community.

The first event will take place at Ashington Cricket Club on Monday 19 September, with sessions running from noon until 3pm and then from 4pm to 7pm, with the second event following between 1pm and 4pm on Wednesday 21 September at Northumberland Age UK’s Round House Café on Lintonville Parkway.

Banks is hoping to organise further local consultation events before submitting a planning application to Northumberland County Council before the end of the year, with a view to it being considered by spring 2023.

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The Wansbeck Road development will include a range of house types, including bungalows and affordable housing, and each property would come equipped with its own electric car charging point.

It has also been designed to deliver a biodiversity net gain of at least ten per cent for the local environment through a range of ecological enhancements, which could involve additional tree and hedgerow planting, the creation of wild flower meadows or nature ponds.

Improvements to the local network of footpaths and cyclepaths will allow for easy access to the new development, while enhancement of the Wansbeck Road/Green Road junction will help pedestrians cross the road more easily.

The proposed road infrastructure has been designed to allow a bus to turn within the development with a view to allowing bus services to access this area of Ashington in the future.

Alongside the forthcoming events, a dedicated Wansbeck Road web page containing the key plans and information has also been published, with a project-specific email address available through which local people can contact the project team with any queries or comments.

Jamilah Hassan, community relations manager at The Banks Group, said: "Our aim is to create a thriving new community that is a positive addition to the wider area and we're excited by the opportunities that the Wansbeck Road site provides.

"The project is being designed to bring a wide range of economic, employment, environmental, supply chain and social benefits to the area, while the mix of housing types that it includes will maximise the opportunities for people who want to move to or stay in the area to do just that.

"With so much already happening in South East Northumberland, and so much more planned, there is an urgent growing need to increase the supply of quality homes in the area, so that people can move to or stay in their communities of choice, and this project is being brought forward with this need clearly in mind.

"We have a track record of investment in South East Northumberland that goes back more than four decades and we’re very keen to extend it through this important project.

"We therefore hope that Northumberland County Council’s planning committee will recognise everything that the Wansbeck Road development offers when it comes to consider our planning application."