The housebuilder behind controversial plans to build 3,500 homes in green belt land around Elton Reservoir has given an insight into how the development could look.

Peel plans to invest £500m in community facilities, new primary schools, transport links, and a new public park at land west of the reservoir.

The area has long been earmarked for major development but previous outline plans drew much opposition, with many residents vehemently opposed to development on the area, which has a long history of being a place for people visit to enjoy the outdoors.

But Peel say that the proposed Elton development will help tackle the housing crisis and the need for more homes to be cost effective.

The developer's firm Northstone is currently building homes on a site at Smithy Brook Road in Wigan.

And the look and style of that site is set to be similar to what the Elton Reservoir site will look like.

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Northstone design director Richard O’Brien led a tour of the site starting in one of the three-bedroom houses.

Richard said: “Here at Northstone we’re trying to make houses that enable people to live in a new home but not have to experience huge running costs that they have in their current house.

“People see new housing as being a blight when in fact they should see it as a benefit.”

Northstone also focuses on building more two and three bed houses instead of four beds so more people can get onto the housing market.

It is hoped this would give younger people the chance to get onto the property ladder and provide a more balanced blend of residents at the site.

He said: “We use lots of sustainable materials and where things are built and we can’t get something that is sustainably manufactured, we try and work out how to use it most efficiently.

“We recycle 99 per cent of the material that we generate as waste.

“Our waste wood goes to charities who create lots of different things like bird boxes.

“Our sales centres are made of wood too and we also donate those to charities once we are done with those too.”

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Richard added: “Before we come to a site, we do a very detailed report on what’s there, what we can retain, how we can enhance it.

“We don’t just turn up and 'trash' a piece of land, we try and work out what benefits we can bring to that site and how can we improve it.”

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