THE redevelopment of the old Park Prewett hospital and its acres of grounds is being hailed as a success story by the man charged with overseeing its smooth progress.

Limes Park in Basingstoke is a Government scheme, working as English Partnerships, to create new homes on the old hospital site.

Limes Park is the first of the English Partnerships projects to come on stream and Godfrey Winterson, director of development and investment for Hamptons, said: "I am really enthused by Limes Park and how the project is progressing.

"I believe it is the first time a Government initiative in delivering housing has worked."

He added: "This is working incredibly well. It's already an established community and developers are working in harmony to make Limes Park a destination - not just another housing site."

All 1,200 homes that are planned for the site have to meet eco-friendly standards to save energy in the battle against climate change and, so far, the development has appealed almost exclusively to local movers.

Although Mr Winterson admitted sales were "slow but consistent", 250 homes at Limes Park have already been sold and occupied since it was launched early last year.

The developers involved in creating the new community are Bryant Homes, Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon, Charles, Thomas Homes and Carey Homes, which is the most recent to join the development consortium.

Thomas Homes is converting the Edwardian hospital buildings into character houses and apartments and also building a new crescent of properties to blend with the old conversions.

Some of the developers building at Limes Park are offering the new Government-backed scheme to address the problems first-time buyers have getting a foothold on the property ladder - especially during the credit crunch.

Open Market Homebuy is a low-cost Government-backed home ownership programme, which aims to help people to secure 100 per cent funding to the value of their first home.

It is a flexible equity loan scheme designed to help households earning up to a maximum income of £60,000-a-year, subject to certain criteria, to buy their own home on the open market.

The scheme offers two products - MyChoiceHomeBuy and Ownhome.