A cricket pavilion, sports pitches, a country park and four shops are included in latest plans agreed for Ely North.

The facilities are included in the agreement between Vistry Homes and East Cambridgeshire District Council for 228 homes.

Almost one in five of the 258 homes fall within the category of affordable, says the council’s housing team.

The planning committee approved the application, noting that the 18 per cent affordable element will meet the requirement of 70 per cent rented and 30 per cent ‘intermediate housing’.

Ely Standard: A computer-generated image of the properties to be built by Linden Homes at Orchards Green in Ely at Ely North development.A computer-generated image of the properties to be built by Linden Homes at Orchards Green in Ely at Ely North development. (Image: Linden Homes (Vistry))

"The affordable housing mix proposed will meet the housing needs of those households in Ely as well as helping towards meeting the council’s overall affordable housing need,” the housing team reported.

It took three years for the final scheme to be agreed by the committee.

The homes will be built with a 16.11-acre parcel of land off Lynn Road to the north of the city.

The site forms part of the wider North Ely scheme for up to 1,200 homes which was agreed five years ago.

Vistry (formerly known as Linden Homes) will build the 228 new homes.

Verity Macmahon, land director for Vistry East Midlands, said: “Now that our plans have been given the go-ahead, we are looking forward to getting construction underway.”

First homes are expected to be ready by late summer next year.

The site comprises of one parcel of land to the North of Cam Drive, and to the west of Lynn Road.

It is the first of two phases with a green ‘edge’ extending to Chettisham.

Vistry says a country park and trim trail facilities which span the length of the development, as well as an off-site cycleway, will be provided.

A report to the committee said the overall scheme has seen completion of the Isle of Ely primary school.

The Orchards care home is also complete and occupied.

Hopkin Homes have built 110 homes with most occupied.

The report added that commercial units and a community centre “are still the subject of discussions” between planners and the landowner.

A third phase, by Taylor Wimpey, is in its early stages of construction “with no dwellings yet completed or occupied” noted the report.