Leisure centre site sold for less than market value

A council said it has sold a former leisure centre site for less than its market value in order to keep a promise not to build student accommodation on it.

Plans have been agreed to sell the old Clifton Hill leisure centre site, in Exeter, to a company that builds affordable housing for older people.

Exeter City Council said the sale price of the site was just under £3.4m - below the market value of £3.8m.

Council leader Phil Bialyk said: "We could get £3.8m, or even more, if we broke our promise not to build student accommodation."

The council closed the leisure centre in 2018 and knocked it down in 2022, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Services (LDRS).

The two-acre site was originally sold to its in-house housing company Exeter City Living (ECL) for just over £2m.

It then bought it back last year for about £3m and the site went back on the market last August.

Planning permission had already been given for 41 homes on the site but none of the bidders wanted to take that on.

Preferred Homes came in with a plan for 72 units of affordable rented housing for older people.

The development would have a cafe, meeting rooms and a weekly doctors' surgery.

Homes will be made available to older Exeter residents on the housing register.

Councillor Duncan Wood said: "It is important that we listened to local communities, heard their reservations and acted accordingly."

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