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Plans to breathe new life into a former North East colliery and create more than 400 jobs have taken a major leap forward after Sunderland city council agreed to sell the land to developers.

The council’s cabinet has agreed to sell eight acres of land at what was once the former Houghton pit in Houghton-le-Spring, triggering progress on a £12m development plan by Washington based Hellens Group.

Hellens Group, which has worked on a host of mixed use and residential schemes across the region, is now putting together a planning submission which would lead to more than 440 jobs being created if the scheme is approved, including 90 new jobs in construction, 135 in the supply chain and 215 in the retail units.

Hellens is currently undertaking surveys on the site to finalise a proposed layout ahead of community consultation later in the year.

At the moment, the site’s plans include a 44,000 sqft supermarket, a second large retail unit comprising 15,000sqft of space and two smaller retailer units, a petrol filling station with a retail kiosk and a car park with 400 spaces.

A new vehicular access to the site from the A182 Newbottle Street is also planned, alongside hard and soft landscaping across the site, including a new pedestrian route linking the site to the existing Houghton le Spring town centre.

Gavin Cordwell-Smith, chief executive at Hellens Group said: “The cabinet’s decision to approve the sale of the land is fantastic news for the future of the site and the local community. We are now working on preparing plans for submission to Sunderland Council later this year.

“We are very much looking forward to bringing the scheme forward to mark a new chapter in the life of a site which is steeped in heritage but has lain dormant for nearly 40 years.