A DEAL has been struck to turn an empty quayside in Southampton into a bustling £100m development with hundreds of new homes and businesses.

There are hopes the Chapel Riverside development north of the Itchen Bridge could create up to 700 jobs as well as at least 380 flats and houses.

Plans for the development were first revealed by the Daily Echo last year, with Inland Homes revealing its vision to create space for marine businesses at the 8.9 acre site.

And the city council have now inked a deal with the company, appointing them as development partner to see through the regeneration of the riverside site.

It is the latest jobs boost for the city, coming a week after the Daily Echo revealed that a multi-million pound deal to develop the former Ford site, creating up to 1,000 new jobs, has been sealed.

The riverside site has most recently been used as the council’s waste and recycling centre before that was moved to First Avenue in Millbrook.

Before that it had been earmarked as the site for a snowdome before that plan was axed in 2012.

Since then Labour council chiefs have marketed the site for a new development making the most of its waterside location, which would contain maritime and marine businesses.

The agreement between the council and Inland Homes – which is also developing the £40m Meridian Waterside housing development on the site of the former Meridian TV studios – means plans to redevelop Chapel Riverside can now progress.

While the exact plans are at an early stage, the developer says it would contain marine-based employment space, at least 380 houses and flats and a new riverside walkway.

They would also build 300m of river flood defences along the banks of the Itchen and a new underground surface water storage tank for Southern Water.

Daily Echo: PICTURED: An aerial view of the site

The work could also shed light on the history of the site, with an archaeological investigation of a medieval chapel to be included in the work.

Inland Homes says work on the site could begin next year, with the project completed in 2022.

The firm’s planning director, Mark Gilpin, said: “Chapel Riverside is a prime riverside site which presents some big technical challenges. Its development will showcase our strengths as a company keen to take these on board.”

And chief executive Stephen Wicks added: “Chapel Riverside is within easy walking distance of Southampton city centre and will link this part of the city to the River Itchen, opening it up to the public for the very first time. We are hugely excited to be working with the city council to bring the scheme forward.”

Council leader Simon Letts said: “The development of the Chapel Riverside site is another progressive step in the transformation and regeneration of our city.

“This project will allow full public access to another section of the city’s waterfront and I’m pleased that an agreement has been reached with Inland Homes to carry out this high profile work.

“I’m confident they will deliver a fantastic redevelopment of this site which will include a mixture of new homes and business units and will be easily accessible to and from the city centre.

“I very much look forward to the work getting underway.”

Last week we told that firm Mountpark has completed a deal to take on the former Ford Transit factory in Swaythling.

The firm, which is developing a string of other sites in the UK, said the site would have a mixture of uses including logistics and manufacturing.

The factory closed in 2013, bringing to an end more than five decades of Transit production at the site, and Ford oversaw marketing it for a new occupier.

Now Mountpark has inked a deal that it says could create jobs “in the high hundreds”, and that some of the new occupiers could be up and running within 18 months.