The 95-acre brownfield site has outline planning consent for 900 new homes.

The grant will help to unlock Moss Nook’s first phase of around 240 residential units over 16 acres by financially contributing to the construction of a new spine road and associated infrastructure.

Harworth has already appointed a contractor for the groundworks of the project’s first phase.

The regenerator of land and property for development and investment also intends to appoint a civils contractor to deliver the required spine road.

Harworth — which was advised by Cushman & Wakefield with its funding application — then aims to market the engineered land for sale to a housebuilder, with the first homes to be built and occupied from next year.

The entire site is expected to take between eight and 10 years to complete.

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“We have a very clear policy that we should look at brownfield sites first when building the homes that we need in our city region,” said Steve Rotherham, mayor of the Liverpool city region.

“As land previously used for mining and other industrial processes, and located close to the centre of St Helens, Moss Nook is exactly the type of brownfield site we should be developing and I’m pleased that our £2m funding will enable this project to come forward.”

Councillor David Baines, leader of St Helens Council, added: “It’s great to see this funding secured, which will help make the site a suitable spot for development in the future and has the potential to unlock new housing and additional facilities in the area.”

Matthew Whiteley, development manager at Harworth, stated: “Moss Nook is Harworth’s first residential development in the North West following our purchase of the site in 2018 and we’re keen to exercise our technical skill in bringing forward this complex site as we have done on other former industrial land across the North of England and the Midlands.”