Evans buys out Keyland’s stake in 1,800-home Yorkshire scheme

Evans Property Group has bought out joint venture partner Keyland Developments to take full control of the remaining stages of a 1,800-home scheme near Leeds. Keyland Developments, the property trading arm of Kelda Group and sister company of Yorkshire Water, has sold its stake in Templegate Developments, the company behind the Skelton Gate development, for an undisclosed sum. Skelton Gate is a 170-acre development on a former colliery east of junction 45 of the M1. Permission has been secured for phases 1 and 2, consisting of 1,100 homes, with an application running for a further 700 homes in phase 3. The scheme has received a £20m loan from Homes England to begin ground preparations. The 27-acre phase 1 was sold in January 2022 to Avant Homes and EPG’s Evans Homes, while the 31-acre phase 2 is due to be sold to a housebuilder. Keyland Developments managing director Peter Garrett said: “At Keyland, our focus is on the early stages of the development process, using our expertise to secure planning consents on complex sites and to overcome obstacles to development. “Passing on our interest in this project to our partners at Evans will allow us to concentrate our efforts on our growing planning promotional agreement business and on unlocking further opportunities from Yorkshire Water’s 70,000-acre land portfolio.” Evans’ UK managing director Rob Marshall said: “By acquiring 100% of phase 2 and 3 we have secured a significant pipeline for Evans Homes as we continue to grow that business, adding to existing sites at Tockwith and Skelton, and future sites at Whinmoor and Brayton.”