HOUSING group Torus says it will invest in hundreds of new houses in St Helens after being awarded £66m by Homes England.

Torus was announced as a ‘strategic partner’ of Homes England, as part of a government drive to boost the development of new properties.

The award is designed to give ambitious housing associations an opportunity to expand and accelerate their development plans, particularly where there is a focus on land-led developments, place-making and regeneration.

Following a recent amalgamation with Liverpool Mutual Homes, Torus has announced plans to build 5,300 new homes over the next five years, primarily in its heartland areas of St Helens, Warrington and Liverpool.

The group has already delivered more than 500 new homes across St Helens, including developments in Sutton, Windle, Newton-le-Willows, Moss Bank and Thatto Heath.

A further 500 homes, including specialist housing for over 55s in Fingerpost and Parr, are underway and plans for more than 300 further homes in St Helens are firmly in the pipeline.

This additional funding from Homes England will increase that figure by 29 per cent.

Managing director of development at Torus, Chris Bowen said: “When we amalgamated as a group we set out some very firm objectives, one of which was to make the supply of affordable homes in the North West an absolute priority.

“We have a real commitment to investing in the communities we serve so the main focus of our development programme will be on land led developments, place making and regeneration in our key heartland areas of St Helens, Warrington and Liverpool.

“This extra funding means that we can invest in our heartlands with real certainty and our original ambition to build 5,300 homes is now an absolute minimum, in fact we expect to significantly exceed this figure.”