A NEW £85m eco-friendly housing development, creating 800 jobs, on an eyesore site on the edge of Liverpool city centre has been given the go ahead.

Liverpool’s planning committee yesterday gave approval to the Via Verde development behind Leeds Street, alongside the award-winning Eldonian village. It will see the construction of 356 homes, offices, bars, restaurants, shops and a store and over seven buildings of up to nine storeys high.

Developers Viride Holdings hope the scheme will be one of the greenest in Liverpool, with families in the homes receiving bicycles, and residents signing up to a public transport plan.

It will also create a new high street along Vauxhall Road helping to regenerate the area and link it with the city centre.

Last night Viride spokesman Will Tasker said: “We have incorporated many features that really will mean this development being hailed as a green village. We are delighted to be working alongside the Eldonian Group.”

The scheme is a partnership between The Eldonians and Viride Holdings, the urban regeneration arm within the Somerston Property Group, a family-owned company which traces its links with Liverpool to the 1850s.