CIVIC chiefs have vowed to drop the firm behind a delayed £150 million development if they don't start work within four weeks.

Winchester councillors set the clock ticking today as their patience ran out over the controversial Silver Hill scheme.

Developer TH Real Estate (THRE) is set to transform the city centre with shops, flats and a new bus station.

But as reported by the Daily Echo, the firm has U-turned to claim the scheme, which they had promised by Christmas, must be changed to meet building standards.

At a crunch meeting this morning, Conservative-run Winchester City Council ruled the project must start by February 9 or they will serve notice to end the contract.

Cllr Rose Burns, an ally of anti-Silver Hill campaign leader Cllr Kim Gottlieb, said the scheme should go "back to square one" as the council "can't trust" its development partner.

She said: "How many times have we been told that this scheme is viable or is not viable?

"We were told that they were going to start work by the end of December. That hasn't happened, so how much longer do we have to wait?"

THRE, which did not respond to a request for comment before going to press, has raised the prospect of suing the council if it walks away, arguing that it would breach its obligation to act in good faith.

The council's legal advisors played down the threat. Lesley-Anne Avis, partner at Berwin Leigton Paisner, said: "We don't think it's a good argument."

The Silver Hill scheme was first touted in the mid-1990s but THRE has handled it since 2010.

If cabinet chooses to end the contract at a meeting on February 10, THRE will have 20 working days to get started before they are ditched for good.

The council would then be left seeking another developer – and with a potential £35 million bill to buy the land.

A compulsory purchase order for the site expires in March. Using it without borrowing money would drain the council's reserves of around £30 million and threaten other major projects in the city, the meeting heard.

Cllr Stephen Godfrey, leader of Winchester City Council, said: "We may not be able to build out the Station Approach development, we may not be able to build a new leisure centre or any of the other capital programmes we have lined up. I think that's a very realistic prospect."

Instead the council could apply for a new CPO, potentially repeating a lengthy and expensive public inquiry.

A financial analysis of issues around the scheme and CPO are being prepared for a special council meeting on January 28.