The future of the housing development coming to the Wells Centre site is being worked on by specialists.

PricewaterhouseCooper is advising Epsom and Ewell Council how best to deliver the new homes and community space.

They are considering whether the land should be sold to developers, or whether the council itself should develop the site.

A council spokesman said: “A straightforward sale of the site would maximise the sale proceeds to the council, which could be used to fund services to borough residents. In turn, housing developers would seek to maximise their return; this could impact on the provision of any affordable housing.

“If the council were to develop the site ourselves, we could ensure the maximum amount of affordable housing, however there would be cost considerations. It would seem likely therefore that if we were to develop the site, we would have to have a mixture of housing types to keep the overall cost down and maximise the affordable housing.

“As you can see, there are various different models on how we could proceed. The agreement on the recommendation to engage PriceWaterhouseCooper is so that we can obtain independent specialised advice to ensure the optimum outcome. Until we have their options appraisal, we can’t say how we will proceed.”

The decision to move services from the much-loved centre to the Longmead Centre in Sefton Road, and develop the Wells site was made in December 2015 in a bid to save money.

Informal advice from Woking Borough Council has indicated the site could provide space for about 25 homes.