A REGENERATION project which has cost £10m in council cash could finally come to fruition after the land was sold to a housing developer for just £302,000.

Barrow Borough Council is set to sell four pieces of land - three in Barrow and one on Walney, to housebuilders for a total of £2.527m.

Hundreds of homes will be built on the sites ranging from the executive houses built by Mullberry Homes at the former Parkview School to more affordable modern housing in central Barrow.

The deal, set to be rubber-stamped at a council meeting later this month, will finally bring an end to the 10-year plan to regenerate the Arthur Street area of Barrow.

In 2007, the council agreed on its North Central Renewal Area programme which would lead to the compulsory purchase and demolition of around 160 homes in Arthur Street, Sutherland Street and Marsh Street.

The authority said it was more cost effective to bulldoze the terraced properties than for them to be refurbished and brought up to date.

The regeneration programme also involved refurbishing the exterior and surroundings of a number of homes in Sutherland Street and Marsh Street.

The council's vision was for a housebuilder to buy the land and build affordable homes but despite interest from some developers the site has remained empty since it was cleared in 2012.

Over the years, as the land remained vacant and undeveloped, council bosses admitted the sale of the land had been "challenging".

Now though, the council is set to agree to accept a bid of £302,000 from MJ Gleeson as part of a package of land sales to be agreed later this month.

A 6.5-acre site made up of two patches of land on either side of the Risedale Abbey Meadow Nursing Home in Flass Lane is being sold to Mullberry Homes for £1.9m.

Two other bids put forward for the two sites by unnamed rival developers fell far short of Mullberry's offer - one offered £740,000 while the other offered £718,000.

Local firm Leck Construction is the preferred bidder for land in Solway Drive on Walney with their offer of £325,000 is also set to be accepted and could see around 70 new homes built.

Barrow Borough Council's executive committee will meet at 2pm on December 18 when members are recommended to approve the sale of the four pieces of land for a total of £2.527m.