A dozen new homes have been handed over to a housing provider ahead of being rented out to residents.

Kellen Homes has given the keys to the first 12 of 211 new homes on York Street in Bury to Sigma Capital Group.

The two, three, and four-bedroom houses were officially handed over to Sigma, allowing the first residents to move in.

The homes have been built to rent under Sigma's build-to-rent (BTR) brand Simple Life, providing "much-needed, high-quality, professionally-managed rental housing for local people".

The site is still under construction to complete the remaining homes and recently welcomed a visit from council officials to see the progress for themselves.

The council supported Kellen Homes with its application for brownfield housing funding from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The Brownfield Housing Fund provided a £1.95m grant to remediate the land at York Street.

Ellie Frith, head of land and partnerships at Kellen Homes, said: "A huge amount of work goes on behind the scenes to get a development to the point where the first residents can start moving in, so today is a great day.

"York Street is a superb site that offers homes for local people and today marks another important milestone in our strong partnership with Sigma."

Lee Catterall, development director at Sigma, said: "It’s an absolute pleasure to get the keys to the homes on this important new development being delivered in partnership with Kellen Homes.

"Our Simple Life homes provide vital, accessible housing for the local community and it’s great to celebrate this next step in helping renters of Bury get access to high quality rental homes at an attainable price."

The scheme includes the creation of almost 12 acres of public open space and a mix of detached and semi-detached, privately rented homes.

The site is bordered by green space to the east, existing homes to the south and the river Irwell to the west.