FEARS have been raised that the multi-million-pound project designed to breathe new life into a Southampton estate has stalled.

The Daily Echo can reveal that the £100m Townhill Park regeneration plan is three months behind schedule and the costs have gone up.

And now Conservative opposition councillors are calling on the city’s Labour housing boss to resign over his handling of the city’s estate regeneration programme over the past three years.

They will move a motion at council tomorrow calling for Warwick Payne to quit.

They say that some projects have “gone backwards” since Labour took power from them – allegations rejected by Cllr Payne.

When completed the Townhill Park project will see 428 ageing homes make way for 675 new flats and houses.

There will also be an adventure playground, new parade of shops, a pub or cafe and a village green.

But the city council has admitted the cost of the scheme has gone up due to labour and material costs being higher now than when the scheme first started.

However housing bosses refused to reveal how much the costs have risen, saying it is “commercially sensitive” information.

A spokesman insisted it has not stalled through lack of money as they say there is £62m in the Housing Revenue Account to prepare the site and purchase new affordable homes.

And the authority also admits the plans are behind schedule because of the “complexity” of the site and because of the process of listening to residents’ feedback.

Conservative opposition leader Royston Smith said he fears the delay could cost millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money He said: “Their commitment was to build one affordable home for every day they’re in office but they still talk about it.

“The only ones they are building are the ones we have started and the ones we have started they have not finished.

“Residents are being left in limbo and do not know what’s happening. It is a massive waste of money because they keep revising the plans and stalling them.”

But Cllr Payne hit back at his Conservative opponent, saying the delay was caused by “clearing up the mess” Cllr Smith’s party left behind.

Cllr Payne, said: “The Tories started it and left me with a plan with a whole load of things wrong with it and I have been trying to clear up these issues, which have been causing concern for Royston Smith’s own constituents. If anything he should be thanking me rather than criticising me.”

However, he now faces a motion calling for his resignation on Wednesday.

Cllr Smith has accused him of showing a “lack of clear direction and leadership”, adding that “very little progress has been made” on estate regeneration projects and in some respects it “has gone backwards”.

However Cllr Payne said the motion was “unjustified” and added: “I visit a lot of tenants and residents’ groups in my role and none of them are asking for me to go, in fact they often give me a pretty warm reception, and those are the people I am answerable to, not Cllr Smith.

“Wednesday’s debate won’t achieve anything but I’ll still take part – unlike David Cameron I don’t shy away from debates with the leader of the opposition.”

A city council spokesman said preparatory work had begun for a demolition contractor to move on to the site by July and the first blocks could be knocked down in December.

They say the entire project could be completed in 2020.