COUNCIL chiefs have vowed to ditch the firm behind the hugely delayed Silver Hill scheme if it doesn't go ahead within weeks.

Winchester councillors set the clock ticking today as their patience ran out with controversial developer TH Real Estate.

The firm is set to transform the city centre with shops, flats and a new bus station.

But as reported by the Chronicle, the firm has U-turned to claim the scheme, which they had promised by Christmas, must be changed to meet building standards.

At a crunch meeting this morning, Winchester City Council ruled the project must start by February 9 or they will serve notice to end the contract.

Cllr Rose Burns, an ally of anti-Silver Hill campaign leader Cllr Kim Gottlieb, said the scheme should go "back to square one" as the council "can't trust" its development partner.

She said: "How many times have we been told that this scheme is viable or is not viable?

"We were told that they were going to start work by the end of December. That hasn't happened, so how much longer do we have to wait?"

THRE, which has yet to respond to a request for comment, has raised the prospect of suing the council if it walks away, arguing that it would breach its obligation to act in good faith.

The council's legal advisors played down the threat. Lesley-Anne Avis, partner at Berwin Leigton Paisner, told the meeting: "We don't think it's a good argument."

But council leader Stephen Godfrey, warning against an early decision to terminate, added: "The court might feel that we've not given them every opportunity to complete their contractual obligations."

If cabinet chooses to end the contract at a meeting on February 10, THRE will have 20 working days to get started before they are ditched for good.

The council would then be left seeking another developer – and with a potential £35 million bill to buy the land.

A compulsory purchase order for the site expires in March. Using it without borrowing money would drain the council's reserves of around £30 million and threaten other major projects in the city, the meeting heard.

Cllr Godfrey said: "We may not be able to build out the Station Approach development, we may not be able to build a new leisure centre or any of the other capital programmes we have lined up. I think that's a very realistic prospect."

Responding to Cllr Burns' comments about the age of the plans, he added: "The fact that the design is a dozen years old doesn't make it invalid or inappropriate. I think the favourite building in this city is 900-and-something years old. The fact it was designed then doesn't make it any less valid."

The meeting heard that several buildings in Silver Hill, built in the 1960s and '70s, will begin to crumble if work is not done soon.

Head of estates Kevin Warren said part of Friarsgate car park would have to be demolished for safety reasons with Coitbury House, the former Post Office and St Clements Surgery in various states of decay. 

But developing small chunks of the site would require changes to the council's long-standing policy of regenerating the entire area, said corporate director Steve Tilbury.

Fears were also raised that ditching the city centre scheme would embolden developers to bid for an out-of-town retail park.

Mr Tilbury said: "In practical terms there aren't a huge number of out-of-town sites where additional retail could be provided but it does leave you somewhat vulnerable to that kind of approach."

The council could apply for a new CPO, potentially repeating a lengthy and expensive public inquiry.

A financial analysis of options for the scheme and CPO are being prepared for a special council meeting on January 28 before final decisions by cabinet on February 10.