Four of the five people who have reserved apartments at a luxury development in Leigh are local, according to an estate agent.

Despite concerns raised by some that Leigh was becoming “Shoreditch-on-Sea” with an influx of Londoners, Home of Leigh’s Tony Kelly said four out of five reservations at the Bell Sands development on Leigh Hill were for locals.

Starting at £250,000, the apartments being built on the site of the former Bell Hotel are already well above the £150,000 average quoted by the Times when it ranked Leigh as the fourth best place in the country to live, and the first ten were put on the market three weeks ago.

Mr Kelly said: “In terms of interest, about 25 to 30 per cent has been from people looking to move into the area, and a lot of those have been London-based, either working or living there.

“Most of the interest, though, has been local because it’s a historically interesting site and lots of people in Leigh and Chalkwell have been keeping a watch on it.

“Out of the five reservations we’ve got, four of them are local, but we’re negotiating with people in and out of the area.”