A multi-million pound deal between Cheshire-based Morris Homes and Leicester City Council could fall through.
The council has threatened to walk away from plans to sell an eight-acre site in Aylestone on the edge of the city, to the developer for 102 new homes.
The council said it approved the £750,000-an-acre deal with Morris Homes back in 2015 and planning permission was approved in 2017.
But three years on the sale has not been completed.
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said the developers were trying to get the council to accept a reduced price for the land.
The matter was raised by Aylestone ward councillor Nigel Porter who said residents in the area wanted to know what was going to happen with the land off Soar Valley Way.
Sir Peter told councillors: “There have been protracted discussions with the company that won the tender and they have attempted to negotiate down the sum they had agreed to pay.”
He said further discussions would be held this week adding: “If they continue to cause delay and do not agree a proper price then I would be minded to pull out of the deal and place the land back on the open market.”
Coun Porter said he would welcome the council walking away from the deal but asked for assurances that residents would be consulted on any future alternative proposals.
Sir Peter said: “Were we to pull out of this deal, which at the moment is what I would be minded to do, we would place the land back on the market on the same planning conditions as exist at the moment.”
The agreed deal would see some 20 affordable homes built on the site but more than 700 people opposed it before it was controversially approved by the council.
Residents listed a host of concerns which ranged from a loss of a large area of public space to increasing traffic on the already congested Lutterworth Road and the nearby Soar Valley Way with the added pollution and noise.
Morris Homes was contacted for comment.
