Persimmon and George Wimpey are set to go head to head in a fight for a slice of a £1.2bn housing scheme on 1,000 acres at an old BP refinery in south Wales. The Times

bp is expected to announce this week that it has chosen a development partner to transform the Llandarcy site into a village called Coed D’Arcy.

St Modwen is thought to be the frontrunner for the main development contract. It would lead the regeneration of the site and take the site through the planning process before teaming up with one or more housebuilders to build up to 5,000 homes.

Ian Sutcliffe, the executive director for the UK at Wimpey said: 'We are very interested in it. It is a very challenging piece of land and it is a big issue for the Welsh Assembly. It is almost a new town with up to 5,000 homes.'