Labour councillors have failed in their bid to delay a move to buy the site of the Hilton Hotel and Gala Casino at Dundee waterfront.
Group leader Kevin Keenan said the city council should not go ahead with its planned compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the land at Earl Grey Place until councillors had been told how much it would cost.
The 1.2-hectare site is needed as part of the long-term regeneration of the central waterfront and both buildings are to be demolished.
Talks have been held with both companies but city development director Mike Galloway told councillors that no agreement had been reached on an acceptable purchase price. Compulsory acquisition was now seen as an ”essential” last resort.
The timing of infrastructure works in the area had been changed already and the process of promoting a CPO had to start now to avoid any potential delay in their completion, he said.
But Mr Keenan said the policy and resources committee should defer its decision because councillors deserved to know the financial implications of a decision of such magnitude.
They owed it to the Dundee public to know what the council was getting into, he added.
On a vote, only the Labour group supported a deferral and Mr Guild’s motion for the CPO process to get under way was passed.