THE former CompAir site in High Wycombe centre is now the preferred site for the town's new sports centre to replace the outdated Handy Cross building.

Wycombe District Council's cabinet members named CompAir when they met last week. It is in the draft development framework for the district.

Three options were considered for a replacement sports centre by the council's Gateway Committee: l Refurbish the existing centre l A new centre at Cressex Island l A new centre on the CompAir site But though CompAir in Hughenden Road is now first choice, that does not mean that it will be plain sailing towards development.

Councillors fear the scheme will bring them up against the Highways Agency and Tesco, which owns the 15 acres of land that make up the former CompAir and BroomWade sites.

Tesco could want housing built there, which would bring it more money than the council would pay for sports centre land.

Mike Appleyard, chairman of the committee, said: "They are clever at this kind of thing. Housing would be lucrative there."

Former council leader Roger Colomb also said Tesco would want to get the best price by putting as much housing as possible on the site.

The development framework has this area of town down as being for mixed development. Tesco could challenge this at a public inquiry.

If Tesco does not want to sell, the council could take out a compulsory purchase order but if the two parties have to go to a lands tribunal to set the price, that could take years.

Deputy council leader David Cox said: "We want it the sports centre to be the CompAir site and if things drop into place that is where it will be, but it depends on other things."

The council could fall out with the Highways Agency over traffic congestion at Handy Cross.

It wants to put houses and industry on the sports centre land, to raise the maximum capital to pay for the new centre. The snag with this is that houses and employment bring with them far more peak hour traffic than the sports centre, which is largely used during off-peak periods.

The Highways Agency, which has to be consulted, will not want extra traffic nullifying the effect of its own £12 million scheme at the Handy Cross motorway junction.

Cllr Appleyard said the junction had been improved for a known or projected volume of traffic. "We will have the Highways Agency to contend with."

Cllr Colomb said the Highways Agency had scuppered a planning application on traffic grounds some years ago when Travel Lodge applied to build 12 more bedrooms.

The CompAir BroomWade site is also named as a possible site for Amersham and Wycombe College. No-thing has so far come of the suggestion that the college could build on land at Wy-combe railway station.