CAVENDISH Square was put up for auction yesterday with a £1.7m price tag - but it failed to sell.

The Park South shopping parade, which has been waiting several years for work to start on the third phase of a regeneration scheme, went under the hammer in London. Bidding stalled at just over £1.6m.

The sale came after owners The Local Shopping REIT Plc revealed in their annual report that they would be selling off stock to repay debts.

“I did wonder whether or not they would be able to sell it,” said Parks and East Walcot Forum secretary Martin Wicks.

He had been expecting it after reading the current owners’ annual report.

“We knew they were looking to get rid of all their property,” he said.

He said residents had struggled to get repairs done to the development after the third phase, which would have meant a roof over the square and gates, failed to materialise.

Maggie Hathaway-Mills, who lives in the George Hall Court sheltered accommodation above the square, said: “It is exceedingly worrying.”

The central paving stones had been laid in sand because it was expected the roof would be built, but they were always cracked and breaking because the sand washed away in the rain, causing a risk to the elderly residents.

“They have come out consistently year after year, trying to fix the paving, but what they do is lay it on sand again,” she said.

“The lighting isn’t working on half the shops. I come home at night and I have to cross from Whitbourne Avenue to get to my building. Once the Co-op closes it is like a black hole. It is quite scary.”

The square was handed over to developers Leehampton in 2008 by Swindon Borough Council, but was sold on to a real estate investment trust after plans for new shops on the site of the old Co-op next door failed to attract enough interest from potential tenants.

According to the current owners rent from the 11 shops, which include a grocers, a post office, several takeaways and a hair salon, totals £158,000 a year. Their remaining tenancies range from nine to 17 years.

A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council said: “The council sold the Cavendish Square retail precinct nearly 10 years ago to a developer which rebuilt all the shops there as part of a regeneration scheme for the area.

“It is therefore in private ownership and the council does not have responsibility for its upkeep, nor the resources, to monitor its condition and report maintenance issues to its owner.

“Shopkeepers in the precinct who lease their shops from the owner should follow up any specific site issues of concern to them directly with the owner as would be the case with any other private development.”