Sandwell Council is set to splash out a massive £10m for the site of the former Rowley Regis College - saving it from the threat of housing developers.

Lengthy negotiations with landowners Dudley College could see the council finally signing on the dotted line later this year - securing the future of one the town's best-known landmarks.

Cash for the prestigious hill-top land will be raised from selling the site of St Michael's CE School and the Whiteheath Pupil Referral Unit, both in Throne Road, as well as a school in West Bromwich.

The three institutions will all be re-built on the site, using £20m of government cash under the Building Schools for the Future scheme.

Pupils at St Michael's School are set to relocate to the new site by 2010 and could have the use of high-tech music facilities such as a recording studio, improved sports facilities and `social' spaces.

Council leader Bill Thomas said: "It is fantastic news for the future of the site and for education in the borough.

"The three sites we are selling are likely to be bought for housing and this money will pay for the land.

"We estimate the land will be sold for somewhere in the order of £10m and we are looking forward to purchasing the site and getting plans drawn up."

He had previously accused Dudley College bosses of penny-pinching after they failed to fulfil promises of site expansions and developments.

The satellite site closed its doors last April - just three years after Sandwell College handed it over - when dwindling student numbers and massive repair bills all became too much.

It has been the centre of negotiations ever since.

Speculation over other buyers, including housing developers and education rival Sandwell College, was quashed when Sandwell Council announced last December they were in discussions with Dudley College to purchase the land.