A DEVELOPER is poised to press ahead with 131 new homes behind Southend’s Waitrose store.

The final details of the bid to build 131 homes on former NHS land are set to be agreed next week.

Keepmoat Homes, a developer specialising in building affordable new build homes, has already been given the green light to build a new estate on land at Fossetts Farm, behind Waitrose.

Now, Southend Council’s development control committee is set to sign off details around the appearance, layout and scale of the homes at a meeting on Wednesday.

Plans were approved back in September 2022, but it is hoped once the finer details are signed off work will finally get under way.

The proposals are the latest for the area behind Waitrose. Other huge plans include a development of 500 homes as part of the Southend United deal.

A development of 131 modular homes is also under way, although plans stalled for a while.

Speaking of the Keepmoat Homes plan, Tony Cox, Tory leader of Southend Council, said: “This has been a long time in the pipeline and the finer details are now being looked at.

“The old NHS site and Homes England have been threatening to put houses on there for a while.”

Mr Cox added: “We have also got the flatpack homes I am still hopeful will come to fruition, alongside the NHS site, and the homes due to come via the Southend United deal.

“It has been a while, but it makes sense to utilise that site and has been a long time for it to come to fruition.”

The land for 131 homes was formerly owned by the NHS, but cash strapped Southend Hospital gave up on its plans to use the land for a diagnostic and treatment centre back in 2014. The land was sold to Homes England – a Government department – and it was initially earmarked for more than 400 homes.

According to the plans for 131 homes, 40 of the new properties will be earmarked as affordable housing.

The plot of land sits next door to land originally earmarked for the new Southend United football stadium which will now be used to build 1,300 homes with the football club staying at Roots Hall under its new ownership.

The homes will also sit close to 131 new flat-pack homes being built off Fossetts Way, however construction on these homes has stalled in recent months.