22-05-2025
Council sells old leisure centre site for affordable homes
A council said it had taken a loss on the sale of a former leisure centre site in order to keep a promise not to build student accommodation on have been agreed to sell the old Clifton Hill leisure centre site, in Exeter, to a company that builds affordable housing for older City Council said the sale price of the site was just under £3.4m - below the market value of £ leader Phil Bialyk said: "We could get £3.8m, or even more, if we broke our promise not to build student accommodation."
The council said it had taken a £400,000 loss after sticking to its promise the site would not be used to house students.
'We listened'
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 £ then bought it back last year for about £3m and the site went back on the market last 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 development would have a cafe, meeting rooms and a weekly doctors' surgery. Homes will be made available to older Exeter residents on the housing Duncan Wood said: "It is important that we listened to local communities, heard their reservations and acted accordingly."
