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Chancellor George Osborne – on a visit to the Urumqi in the region of Xinjiang, North West China – hailed the cash injection from Hualing Industry and Trade Group which will unlock major property projects at Middlewood, as well as in Leeds and Sheffield.The three projects are being led by The McCabe family’s Scarborough Group International and which are expected to create 18,000 and enable the delivery of 10,000 homes.Osborne said: “We are building an ever closer relationship with China. It’s a partnership that is set to unleash growth and help regions like Xinjiang where we know investment can make a real difference, as well as unleash new growth back home, in places like our own Northern Powerhouse.”

Scarborough Group chairman Kevin McCabe said: “We are delighted to join the Chancellor on this historic visit moreover we appreciate the invaluable support of the UK government in helping us to create closer global business links.

“For Scarborough, this is the latest chapter in a long history in China, spanning over 13 years, during which time we have established strong relationships with local partners as the foundation for significant investments in China and the Far East.

“As a family business with its roots in the North, we are now very proud to bring our partners in China to the UK to invest in our great Northern cities and to accelerate the development of our major projects in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.”

Middlewood Locks is a £730m residential project on a 24-acre site in Salford but near Manchester city centre.

The scheme includes 2,000 reidential units and 750,000 sq ft of commercial accommodation.

A detailed planning application is currently in progress for the first phases of the development which will comprise the development of 550 homes, some 29,000sq ft of commercial space and extensive new public realm, in the form of canal side footpaths and cycle ways that will connect directly into the city centre.

The application is due for submission soon with a planning decision expected in before Christmas. This would then enable Scarborough to start on site towards the end of this year.

The other Northern schemes are the £400m mixed-use project in Leeds and the £40m commercial and office development at Sheffield Digital Campus.

Hualing’s initial investment will be £60m with the gross value of all three projects on completion valued at £1.2bn.