Countryside Partnerships, working together with Homes England, has finalised the purchase of land for 259 new homes at Upper Lighthorne.

Set to be known as Windmill View, planning permission for the major development has also been signed off by Stratford-upon-Avon District Council.

Of the 259 new homes being built in the first phase of the project, 130 will be affordable homes owned and managed by Citizen, one the UK's most trusted housing providers, following a forward-sale agreement.

Then 129 will be sold on the open market by Linden Homes.

The start of work triggers an investment of over £2 million in healthcare, education, roads and other local services through section 106 agreements.

A further 280 homes are expected to be delivered as part of a second phase on the site, and in total the wider development will eventually provide around 1,000 homes.

Work to deliver the first phase is expected to start on site later this year.

Stephen Teagle, Chief Executive of Countryside Partnerships, said: "As the UK's largest provider of multi-tenure, affordable homes, we always want to work with partners like Homes England and Citizen to deliver new developments like Windmill View.

"There's a crippling shortage of affordable homes across the UK and we're scaling up our ambitions to tackle that shortage and to provide homes where they are needed most."

The major housing developments around Lighthorne Heath have already sparked a number of local issues, including concerns about the added pressure on village GP surgeries.

Around 3,000 houses are eventually expected to be built around the area.

Nick Byrne, executive director of development at Citizen, commented: "We are proud to be involved with this exciting new scheme, delivering much-needed new affordable homes for the local community.

"Having worked with Countryside on a number of other projects, we're pleased to be partnering with them once again on another high quality development.

"We're looking forward to seeing this development progress once work starts."

Detailed planning permission has now been signed off by the council, but the decision comes after months of discussion between developers and planners.

Earlier discussions had also included the potential scrapping of a noise barrier along the M40.

Ragu Sittambalam, senior planning & enabling manager at Homes England, said: "This is an important milestone for Countryside's Windmill View development and is the next step towards the creation of 259 new homes, many of which will be affordable, in an area of unaffordability.

"We have worked with Countryside to ensure critical infrastructure can be built to support the development and wider area, and our investment will help to accelerate the delivery of new homes.

"We're looking forward to seeing the new community taking shape over the coming years."