Council officials have confirmed the estimated sale price for Helensburgh's key seafront property set for a supermarket.

Argyll and Bute Council said the preferred bidder will buy the waterfront land for the "region of £1 million" subject to site inspections and negotiations.

The figure has long been stated as the target for officials to contribute to the building of the £20m leisure centre and nearby improvements.

And the council said the revenue from the sale would go towards maintaining the building and other work to avoid adding to an already significant deficit for frontline services.

There had reportedly been international interest in the waterfront site and nine bids were whittled down to a final two.

Forrest Group Ltd were chosen with plans including a supermarket, believed to be the Co-op moving from Sinclair Street.

The Advertiser asked Argyll and Bute Council for the sale price and where any revenue would go, such as balancing the books for council services, paying off local authority debt, or further capital projects.

A spokesperson said: "We are in detailed negotiations with the preferred developer and the next stages will involve site investigations and utility assessments amongst other pre-development works.

"Updates will be reported to future Policy and Resources Committees. At this stage, we are estimating income in the region of £1million subject to the above-noted investigations.

"Over the past 10 years, the council has successfully invested over £20m+ in the Waterfront’s new swimming pool, car park, sea defences, and public space including the resurfaced pier.

"The last part of that regeneration is the completion of the West Clyde Street section as an area for commercial opportunities.

"The council’s financial planning, to deliver and maintain the Leisure Centre and additional Waterfront improvements for Helensburgh, includes generating revenue from the West Clyde Street area for commercial use.

"Otherwise, this would result in additional financial pressures adding to the wider budget deficit that would impact other frontline services."

At the start of the bidding process, potential developers were warned the site did not have additional capacity at the electrical substation, meaning possibly significant infrastructure work to enable new retail units.

A council letter last October to seven bidders stated: "Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) have advised that there is no spare capacity available within the existing substations on the site and therefore any additional supply will require additional infrastructure to be provided."

The 1.38-acres waterfront property was envisaged by council bosses to have a roughly 2,700 square metres retail unit.

A smaller 1842sqm new Aldi in the heart of Dumbarton was announced last year as a £4.7m development.

The target price of £1m was confirmed two years ago before significant inflation impacted property, utilities and supply chain costs.