A DEVELOPER has agreed to give former car park land back to a council just four years after paying £1.5m for the site.

At a meeting earlier this week, Barratt Homes agreed in principle to return the Lord Street multi-storey car park in Wrotham Road, Gravesend, to Gravesham Council for free.

Barratt has also agreed to pay compensation for the council’s legal fees during the lengthy negotations over the site, which are estimated to be around £500,000.

The council threatened legal proceedings against Barratt last year after it failed to meet the March deadline for building a block of 108 flats, which was agreed when it bought the land from the previous council administration.

The site has been untouched since the car park was demolished in 2005, and council leader Councillor Mike Snelling described it as an “eyesore”.

On Monday he said: “We shall look into an interim use of the site until its proper development can be brought forward, having regard to the state of the development market at present.

“In future, should the site require an alternative approach, far reaching consultation will take place before any proposal is taken forward.”

The site has become a blot on the landscape of Gravesend and the object of irritation to nearby residents.

A suggestion from Barratt to change the development plan and create more one bedroom apartments was rejected after Cllr Snelling described the new proposals as “rabbit warrens”.

As part of the agreement reached this week, Barratt will now level the site and provide warranties for the remedial work already completed.

It has also agreed to landscape and finish work on another site at the southern end of Parrock Street car park, near a block of flats it completed last year.

As the council can keep the £1.5m Barratt paid for the Lord Street car park, and can now sell the land again to another developer, it could stand to make around £3m from the site.

A spokesman from Barratt Homes was not available to comment.