Plans to create a multi-use park the size of almost five football pitches have been given the green light.

Developer Bellway has been the go-ahead to create the six-acre space on its Harbour Village development in Northfleet.

Known as Bevan’s Park, it will feature a sports pitch, wildlife corridor, and heritage park which will celebrate the industrial history of the site as a former cement works.

There will also be a walking route around the perimeter with seating linking to a fitness trail and a footbridge linking it to Chimney View Park.

The wildlife glade will be fenced off from formal access, with minimal lighting to encourage wildlife, bird and bat boxes installed and log piles to create habitats for stag beetles and other insects.

Bellway Thames Gateway's acting head of sales, Ed Brading, said: “Bevan’s Park will be one of several open spaces at Harbour Village and will create an important, multi-functional area for both its residents and the wider community.

“The heritage park section will pay tribute to the historical industrial use of the land, with flint introduced into some of the pathways. Tunnel entrances in the chalk cliff face will be preserved and celebrated as the site is opened to the public.”

The riverside regeneration project is on the site of the former Northfleet Cement Works, which closed in 2008, and the new park has been named after Thomas Bevan, one of the founding partners in 1854.

Work is expected to start on the park early next year.

Construction is already well underway on the first phase of 121 homes at the riverside development and earlier this year, homebuilder Bellway was also granted detailed planning permission for its second stage to build 130 homes.

Harbour Village will eventually be made up of 532 houses and will form part of the wider Ebbsfleet Garden City, which is expected to create around 15,000 homes alongside shops, commercial and office space and schools.