Three housebuilders have bought land with the potential for £1 billion worth of homes at the site of a proposed garden city.

Countryside Properties, Clarion Housing Group and Barratt Homes have struck a deal which could see them build about 2,900 homes at Ebbsfleet Garden City.

The land, which has been bought from landowner Henley Camland, is understood to be worth just under £300 million.

This would grow to about £1 billion once homes have been completed, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the story.

The deal is a major step for the garden city, which has been talked about for more than a decade.

Former Chancellor George Osborne announced plans for 15,000 homes at the site in his Budget in 2014.

So far, however, only about 800 homes have been built.

The land bought by the housebuilders is understood to be in the Eastern Quarry, a huge former chalk pit left behind as a legacy of the area's once thriving cement industry.

Just south of Swanscombe, the vast site is adjacent to the pit which houses the Bluewater shopping centre.

Countryside Properties and Clarion Housing Group will build 2,600 homes in a joint venture, both already having built homes at Ebbsfleet in Springhead Park and Castle Hill respectively.

Government agency Homes England is expected to start work on infrastructure for the homes this month, with the first phase of 250 homes expected to be ready by late 2020.

Clarion's director of development Austen Reid said: “This latest announcement forms a significant contribution to our target of developing 50,000 new homes in 10 years, and in a location where we have already made significant investment with 500 new homes already completed or on site at Castle Hill.”

Iain McPherson, managing director at Countryside Properties, said: “With Bluewater close by and excellent transport links from Ebbsfleet International station, this will be a great place to live and we look forward to working with Clarion Housing Group and Henley Camland on its future development.”

Henley Camland bought about two-thirds of the quarry in 2016 from Landsec, then known as Land Securities.

It was the company’s first acquisition after being formed in June 2015 in a joint venture between the Henley private equity group and infrastructure firm Camland Projects.

Last week it announced it had purchased the whole of the quarry from Landsec for £66.8 million.

Chief executive Ian Rickwood said: "The delivery of homes at Eastern Quarry will make a significant contribution towards the UK’s housing requirement."

Barratt David Wilson Kent, the division of Barratt Homes focused on Kent, will build about 300 homes through its deal.

Regional director Mark Bailey said: “Having been the first housebuilder to deliver homes at Eastern Quarry, BDW Kent is delighted to have contracted on our fourth parcel of land."