Sheffield Council has outlined plans to buy properties in the area between Pinstone Street, Moorhead and Barkers Pool in a £55 million deal to get them back from developer Hammerson, whose £400m Sevenstone shopping centre hit the rails last year.

The authority has said that it will start demolishing the buildings as early as next year, with completion of the project expected in 2019/2020.

Coun Leigh Bramall, cabinet member for business, said: “We wouldn’t be making this commitment to purchasing the land without confidence that we were going to deliver the scheme and move forward with it. This is the first key milestone in developing the scheme.”