A YOUTH centre will be saved from housing development after a parish council has offered to buy it.

Theydon Bois Youth Centre belongs to Essex County Council (ECC) which has permission to build ten houses on the site off Loughton Lane.

But after six years of negotiating councillors from Theydon Bois have put in an offer of £300,000 for the land so it can be saved for the community.

Parish Clerk Sally Crone said: “We held a public consultation for villagers and this is what they wanted. The hall used to be a youth centre but it closed down quite a few years ago. We want to put it back in use for the community.”

The council is now hoping to secure a public works loan and grant money to buy the hall.

But it was not just thanks to the parish council that the site has been saved.

Resident Roy Newland applied to register the land as a village green which stopped ECC selling the site for development.

Following two years of negotiations ECC offered a deal whereby three houses would be build on the site and it would sell the youth centre for £1, with the condition that Mr Newland drop the village green application.

But the parish council refused the offer and instead asked how much the site could be sold for.

ECC offered it for £600,000 and after negotiations has now agreed to sell at £300,000 with the condition that the land is used for community initiatives.

The council estimate that their purchase will cost villagers an extra 25p per week in council tax and funds will also need to be raised to maintain the building and refurbish it.

Mr Newland said: "It's been used for as long as I have been in Theydon Bois and for as long as anyone can remember. And it was used as a community facility and so we wanted to save it from development so it can still be used for the community."