Councillors have paved the way for the former St Andrew’s High and Braidfield High school sites in Clydebank to be regenerated with new homes.

Under the plans St Andrew’s will be developed solely for affordable housing, allowing the Braidfield site to be sold for private housing development.

It had initially been considered that both sites could be used for a mixture of private and affordable housing, but due to market constraints this is the preferred approach to allow both sites to be fully developed.

At a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council’s infrastructure, regeneration and economic development committee this week, councillors agreed to transfer the St Andrew’s site to the Housing Revenue Account for £200,000. This funding is being made available through the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme.

This decision will allow around 95 affordable homes to be created in the heart of Clydebank, while it is expected the Braidfield site could attract a sale price of up to £3 million from a private housing developer.

Council leader Martin Rooney said: “Both of these sites are crucial to the regeneration of Clydebank and it is exciting that a plan has now been approved that will lead to their future development. The committee has agreed to a plan that will provide much needed affordable and private housing for the area. These sites have been unused for a number of years so this is great news for the whole community.”

Councillor David McBride, vice convener of infrastructure, regeneration and economic development, added: “The council is committed to improving local housing and by bringing these two former school sites back into use it will achieve just that. This is the right approach to ensuring the best use of these two sites. It will provide a significant income for the council through the sale to a private developer and also allow the St Andrew’s site to be developed as part of the council’s commitment to delivering new affordable homes.”

A community consultation to consider the best use for the former St Eunan’s Primary was also given the green light after it was deemed unsuitable for housing due to historic contamination.

A biodiversity park, play area, skate park, Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) and allotments are just some of the suggestions which have been made for the future use of the five acre site.

The consultation will aim to gauge the views of local residents before deciding the best way forward for this site, which has been vacant since the school was demolished in 2011.