Celebration for launch of first homes at Wellingborough's Stanton Cross

Stanton Cross will be the largest growth Wellingborough has seen since the 1960s and will see more than £1 billion invested in the town.

Once the development is complete, there will be 3,650 new homes, leisure facilities, retail and office space, a new country park, three schools and a doctor’s surgery.

It is also set to deliver about 3,000 new jobs.

Stakeholders, dignitaries and special guests were invited to the site just off Irthlingborough Road on Friday (September 21) for Bovis Homes’ official opening ceremony for the scheme’s first homes.

Ahead of the ribbon cutting, James Watson from Bovis Homes spoke of how Stanton Cross has been in the making for about 15 years and described it as a ‘very significant development for the area.’

He thanked all those involved with the scheme, including Wellingborough Council, Network Rail and SEMLEP.

Martin Griffiths, leader of Wellingborough Council, addressed the invited guests and said: “What we are going to do is create a community that we can all be really proud of.”

He said Wellingborough is very much ‘on the up’ but added that whatever the future holds, they will keep its residents at the heart of it.

Wellingborough’s MP Peter Bone was tasked with cutting the ribbon on Friday.

He said the first discussions about Stanton Cross pre-date him as the town’s MP and admitted he had sometimes wondered if they would ever see it happen.

But he went on to praise Wellingborough and added: “It is going to further enhance what is a great place to live.”

The show homes at Wendelburie Rise are the first to be built as part of the wider Stanton Cross development.

The residential areas are divided into five phases and Wendelburie Rise is part of the inaugural phase, which will be known as Ise Valley View.

Three different showhomes are available for people to look around at Wendelburie Rise, with 20 reservations already made for properties.

The sales office is now open for people to find out more about the houses available, which range from two to five bedrooms.