THE council is to press ahead with its own plans to build houses on a site which has previously failed to sell following a vote of its ruling cabinet this week.

The former Longcar conference centre site, off Racecommon Road, is estimated to be worth £425,000 if the council sold it, but it has instead agreed to spend £4.3m on building an estate of 32 houses.

Four will be retained as council houses but 28 will be sold on the open market. A report estimates this will generate between £425,000 and £700,000 to the council once they are sold, and notes that even at the lower estimate, the surplus will cover the costs as well as the estimated value of the land, while at the same time increasing the housing stock.

The contractor will be Brierley-based Saul Construction.

Coun Roy Miller said: "This development will provide high-quality family homes. By acting as developer, we can accelerate housing growth in the borough to ensure we achieve our target for more and better housing, and provision of over 1,000 new homes in 2018/19.

"The project allows us to make use of the surplus land; and supporting the construction of new homes links to wider economic benefits including jobs, employment and skills development opportunities, and business growth."