A £1 BILLION scheme to build 4,000 new homes in Newport is back on track with a housebuilder found for the first 140 homes.

Regeneration company St Modwen got planning permission in May 2007 to transform the 600-acre former steelworks site in Llanwern, into a new residential and business community to the east of Newport called Glan Llyn.

But the collapse of the housing market and the struggling economy in 2008 meant work slowed down and the company had no purchasers for the residential land on the site.

The company has made a lot of progress in the last three months and Rob Skelston, development director for St Modwen in South Wales, said the finances are now in hand.

Mr Skelston said the company is in final discussions with a housebuilder, who will hopefully be announced next month, for 140 homes to be built on 12 acres of the site.

These will be mainly detached family homes at the western end of the site and work on them should start within the next 12 months.

This was after St Modwen recently signed the Section 106 Agreement with Newport City Council.

Over the next 20 years, Glan Llyn will provide around 4,000 homes, 6,000 new jobs, a new district centre with retail and leisure facilities, a library, police station, supermarket, doctor’s surgery and a 1.5 million square foot Celtic Business Park.

The scheme will also have areas of play and sports space, parks and lakes.

The Glan Llyn community will also include two new primary schools with places for 600 children and a nursery which are likely to be built in the next three to five years.

New footpaths and cycleways will help link Glan Llyn with Hartridge High School and Liswerry High School.

St Modwen will also make a multi-million pound commitment to develop and improve the infrastructure, with new access roads planned to and from the site.

The company has carried out various remediation works over the last four years.

Mr Skelston said: “Newport is already undergoing a multi-million pound regeneration programme and our plans for Glan Llyn will help transform this area into a thriving part of the city with high quality housing and new employment opportunities.”

The site will be used in the short term as a park and ride facility for the Ryder Cup.