North Somerset Council is to move forward with two projects to improve the quality, pace and diversity of housing across the area.

The council is now looking for a development partner for 425 new homes on its land at Parklands Village, with at least 127 those homes being affordable.

The successful developer is expected to start on-site in 2021-22 and will be required to deliver a high standard of design and sustainability within the development, the council said.

The Parklands site is part of Weston Villages, which is expected to deliver 6,500 homes, as many as 10,000 new jobs, a secondary school, primary schools, a health centre and shops. The council recently secured national housing-infrastructure funds to deliver the secondary school.

Last year, it also secured nearly £10million from the Homes England Local Authority Accelerated Construction fund to bring this development forward.

This money has partly funded the North South Link Road into the site, as well as key utilities and early groundworks.

The road is also being funded by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership Local Growth Fund and Economic Development Fund, the council and St Modwen developments.

Another project has been initiated to review small pieces of land owned by the council that may be suitable for housing and assess their potential for community-led housing.

Community-led housing is where groups of local people come together to take charge of a housing project - often, but not always, in partnership with a Registered Provider of Affordable Housing.

Part of the work over the next few months will be to gauge the levels of interest in such projects in North Somerset.

Leader of the Council and Executive Member for Housing, Cllr Don Davies, said: "It's great to see our development projects moving forward on both small and large sites. The council is committed to doing everything it can to bring forward the delivery of good-quality housing in sustainable locations, reducing the risk of speculative development elsewhere. These projects will help to accelerate delivery and to increase the range of housing choices on offer to local people."