Nineteen new flats are set to be built on a site previously earmarked for a GP and children’s nursery.

Sheerwater regeneration project was set to see a new medical centre, children’s nursery and community hub after the council borrowed hundreds of millions, to transform the borough – including replacing derelict housing and ageing infrastructure in the village.

The council began by tearing down the newer buildings, leaving the ones most in need of replacing until the end. However, the council ran out of money with debts of more than £2 billion before finishing the project.

The program promised new housing, modern doctor clinics, and more, but following the April 15 planning committee, it was announced that councillors approved plans to build 19 new flats instead.

Sheerwater will have to continue using the old sites that had long been earmarked for demolition.

Councillor Rob Leach (Liberal Democrats; St Johns) said: “It’s important to note that it’s regrettable that we were not able to replace the community centre and the health centre, but that is a matter of fact given our current financial restrictions and it seems to me to be making the best of a difficult job.”

Replacing the previously approved buildings with flats was fine, planners told the meeting, because the dilapidated ones were now being kept because “as long as the existing health centre was retained there was no need, no financial mitigation” to create a new one.

The community and health centres will be replaced with a mixture of single storey flats and duplexes. The nursery space will also be replaced with flats. An outdoor space reserved for the nursery will be split among a portion of the new flats that have direct access, the remainder will be a communal garden.

The dental and pharmacy spaces as well as the retail frontages along Dartmouth Avenue are to be retained.