Work starts on 84-home Regency Place development at Chapelgarth in Sunderland

The latest stage of work to build hundreds of new houses in Sunderland is under way.

Stonebridge Homes is building 84 four and five-bedroom executive homes on a 13-acre site named Regency Place near Doxford Park.

Regency Place is the fifth and final phase of the Chapelgarth development, which will see around 750 homes created by a number of developers.

Miller Homes has just started work on phase four of the project and between them the two developers will also provide new road access, green landscaping, tree planting, public spaces, and children’s play areas.

The Chapelgarth development is part of wider council plans to deliver more than 4,000 new homes at various locations across the city, with the larger South Sunderland growth area expected provide around one-in-five of the new homes needed.

Sunderland city Council portfolio holder for dynamic city Coun Kevin Johnston and chief executive Patrick Melia joined Stonebridge Homes managing director Steve Errington and Mark Wilson, the firm's Land Director of the North East Region, for a ground-breaking ceremony at the site.

Leeds-based Stonebridge Homes currently has seven active sites in Yorkshire, two in the North East, and one in North Lincolnshire.

City council leader Coun Graeme Miller welcomed the start of work on the final phase of the Chapelgarth development: "This is yet another fantastic development for Chapelgarth, delivering even more high quality homes for people looking to live, work and raise a family here in Sunderland.

"The area has benefited from private sector investment amounting to over tens of millions of pounds in recent years, resulting in a number of new communities springing from the ground, and in Stonebridge Homes we have a partner who will help further build on this by providing the high quality homes required to meet our future housing needs."