A PLAN to sell a large supermarket building to the council must not result in another empty site in the town centre, the authority's deputy leader has warned.
Talks are underway which could see the Sainsbury's building in Walthamstow High Street sold to the council, possibly for use as homes and offices.
Councillors have given the green light for negotiations about the plan which would see the council sell the Alpha Business Centre and South Grove car park to supermarket giant Sainsbury's for use as a new store.
In return, Sainsbury's would sell its store building on the smaller High Street site to the council.
Councillor Terry Wheeler, cabinet member for investment, said buying the High Street site would "hopefully unlock and kick-start the whole of the town centre redevelopment."
But in a reference to the problems that have plagued development plans for the long-vacant Arcade site, deputy council leader John Macklin warned the authority has to be careful to ensure the High Street site does not "sit there doing nothing".
He said: “If the land becomes empty it will fall under the responsibility of regeneration and we have weaknesses in that area.
“There has not been much in the way of regeneration success in Walthamstow recently.”
Despite a council report mentioning the potential for homes and office space, Cllr Macklin said the site could be used for other purposes.
He said: “It does not have to be homes, that is just one option.
“We need to have a discussion about what sort of things we want in our high street, for instance Selborne Walk might want to expand on to that site.”
The council intends to have found a developer for the site by 2011 or 2012, with Sainsbury's not expected to leave the site until 2013.
The authority will be keen to avoid a repeat of the delays that have affected plans to build on the Arcade site, on the corner of Hoe Street and High Street.
Two private developers have pulled out of funding the scheme and many have questioned how the authority failed to take advantage of the economic boom of the mid to early 2000s.
The latest plan involves a swimming pool-led scheme funded by £35m of taxpayers' money and £10m from selling the Pool & Track, in Chingford Road, or “alternative assets.”
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