Plans to sell the Clydebank Playdrome site to supermarket chain Tesco has taken one step closer.

Executive Director of Housing, Environmental and Economic Development, Elaine Melrose, was given the green light to conclude revised missives over the sale of the site.

The proposed land is valued in the agreement at £15m.

West Dunbartonshire Council officers have been working with Tesco and their legal representatives since September 2009 to try and close a deal of the Playdrome.

The original plan involved the Council using the funds from the sale of the Playdrome site to pay for a new leisure centre for Clydebank. As negotiations continued, the Council decided to use its approved 10-year capital plan and earmarked £18m of its own money to build a new leisure facility by 2018.

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On Wednesday, the Housing, Environmental and Economic Development Committee instructed a paper be sent to the June Council meeting with a request that the funding be brought forward. If approved, this could allow construction work to begin at Queen's Quay as early as April 2014.

Councillor David McBride, Convener of Housing, Environmental and Economic Development, said Tesco will now submit a planning application for an 87,000 sq feet store by July, meaning the sale could happen as early as March 2015.

Councillor Lawrence O'Neill, Vice Convener of Economic Development, added: "We are committed to building a new leisure centre for Clydebank and contributing to the regeneration of the Queens Quay site.

"If Council agrees to bring forward the funding we will be able to deliver on that ambition, and give officers and Tesco the time and space they need to progress towards the sale of the Playdrome site.

"If a deal can be done then it will also mean that we will be well underway with the construction of the new leisure centre when the time comes to hand over the Playdrome site to Tesco."

(JP/CD)