Private developers have agreed to pay Mole Valley Council more than £1.9m if they do not build 36 affordable houses as part of a 90 flat project.

The authority’s planning committee granted USK Properties permission last month to construct five residential buildings up to three storeys high, next to 66,000 volt electricity cables, on old playing fields at Therfield School, in Cleeve Road, Leatherhead.

The meeting on August 4 heard that Mole Valley Council had 1,500 people on its housing waiting list, and Therfield School “desperately” needed money from the land after it was dropped from the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

But council officer Chris Robertson said USK Properties could abandon their plans if they were forced to pay £1.9m.

A spokeswoman for Mole Valley Council said: “The legal agreement for the development application for Cleeve Road, that has been permitted, states that either 18 one-bedroom flats and 18 two-bedroom flats need to be built within the development as affordable housing, or the owners need to pay the council a commuted sum of £1,911,948.

“The council would use the money to provide affordable housing within the district.”