THE price of honour at Winchester City Council is £500,000.

That is what the city council will spend to buy back two sites earmarked for hostels for vulnerable people.

The city council Cabinet agreed to spend £511,000 purchasing two sites from Eastleigh Housing Association.

The land in Thurmond Crescent, Stanmore, and Fivefields Road, Highcliffe, was originally earmarked for supported housing for ex-offenders and single mums but was defeated by public opposition earlier this year.

The original deal with Eastleigh in March 2003 included an option whereby the association could sell the site back if no planning permission was gained within six months.

For undisclosed reasons the six-month deadline elapsed.

City council planners deemed that Thurmond Crescent, a cul-de-sac, posed severe parking problems and Fivefields Road was on a dangerously steep slope.

Opposition councillors in the summer questioned whether the council was obliged to buy back two near-useless pieces of land.

Such a stance could have wrecked its relationship with the association.

After legal advice all councillors now agree with the deal.

The council will pay the legal costs of £1,000, land registry fees of £370 and stamp duty of £12,530. However those fees will be covered by the interest accrued on the sale sum from 2003.

It means that overall there will have been no net expenditure on the deal although now the council is aware that both sites are virtually undevelopable.

The full council meeting on November 3 is now set to ratify that decision.