Construction firm Deeley Group has been welcomed back into a Cotswold town - by the local MP and house hunters - more than 35 years after it last worked there.

Deeley Homes is creating 16 new homes at Moreton Edge on the site of the former Moreton-in-Marsh hospital and has sold seven before a brick has been laid.

The groundwork for the site is now underway and Cotswolds MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown and local Gloucestershire county councillor Nigel Moor lent their help to launch the site.

Housebuilder Deeley Homes is part of the Midlands-based Deeley Group which built the supermarket - now a Co-Op - on Morton-in-Marsh High Street in the 1980s.

The new development features a range of two, three, four and five-bedroom new homes built around a communal garden and green area, and, to the rear of the site, looks up towards Batsford arboretum.

Sir Geoffrey, who qualified as a chartered surveyor, had a career in the property industry before moving into politics, has welcomed the development of the brownfield site on Hospital Road.

He said: "It is good to see the site being brought back to life and providing such a variety of homes for the community. It is a good example of how a smaller, independent house builder can bring some variety in terms of house types and designs compared to larger operators.

"It is really important to use the brownfield sites we have and, by their nature, that sometimes requires more imagination from the designers and developers.

"I am impressed by the green space and gardens for residents and am looking forward to seeing how the site develops, and will be back to see it when it is completed next year."

Moreton Edge features three two-bedroom cottages at the front of the development, ranging through to a, three-storey, five-bedroom house at the rear of the site.

As part of the development, Deeley Homes, will provide funding to improve footpath links through the centre of the town.

Eleanor Deeley, deputy managing director of the Deeley Group, said: "We have really been welcomed back into the town and people who in the local community have said how pleased they are to see the site being brought back to life, which has been great.

"We have designed new house types specifically for Moreton Edge to ensure that they complement their surroundings, and we have placed great emphasis on the communal gardens and greenspace for residents to use.

"We have been really pleased with the interest in Moreton Edge and the combination of high-quality homes in such a convenient location has proved a big draw. The homes are a short walk from the centre of Moreton and hopefully will add to the vitality of what is a wonderful Cotswold market town."

The first properties at Moreton Edge will be completed next summer, with the development being completed in around a year.