PLANS to build over 200 homes at a former leisure centre site will still go ahead despite the council selling it off.

A developer that is set to buy the land of the now demolished Montem Leisure Centre in Montem Lane still intends to “rapidly” build the approved scheme of 212 homes – with promises that it can add more affordable housing.

Senior councillors agreed at a cabinet meeting to sell the site on to a developer, whose identity remains confidential, in order to receive cash to help pay off its £760m borrowing debt.

Bids were received in the region of £13.5m, but the winning bidder offered ‘significantly more’ than those proposals.

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Council leader James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green) said it was a “good deal” and hinted the buyer is a “very reliable housebuilder,” who has developed “really attractive schemes in the borough”.

The council, in partnership with investment company Morgan Sindall, put forward the 212 homes scheme – 20 per cent of which were affordable – and managed to secure planning permission last year.

However, due to Slough’s financial meltdown, it had to back away from the project and sell it to another developer.

Speaking at the meeting on Monday, October 17, Conservative leader Dexter Smith (Colnbrook with Poyle) said this deal ensures the same number of homes are built and delivers 35 per cent affordable housing, which is 15 per cent more than originally proposed.

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He said: “This shows that this is definitive evidence that the private sector can do better for Slough residents and taxpayers than what Slough Borough Council can do in a joint venture.”

Cllr Swindlehurst said the winning bidder was “confident” that they could deliver more affordable homes and make a profit at the same time.

He said: “It is a good deal. Officers have worked incredibly hard to deliver and from a members’ point of view, we are happy because all the things we wanted, which are an investment in open space, a flagship new housing development, and all the rest of it, are all still coming.

“The council just doesn’t have to take the massive risk of developing the site. It involved the private sector before [Morgan Sindall] and it involves the private sector to a greater extent now because the council has now written itself out of the script.”