TALKS are under way to determine the best site for an Olympic Village for international athletes during the 2012 sailing events in Weymouth and Portland.

The Ocean Views development in Castletown and the new green housing development scheme at Officers’ Field on Portland are among the sites believed to be under consideration.

It comes after London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) announced that a cruise ship was ‘no longer the preferred option’ and negotiations were under way for land-based accommodation.

Ian Munro-Price, director of Red House Estate Agents in Fortuneswell, which is the sole agent for Comer Homes’s Ocean Views properties, said: “Ocean Views would be absolutely the obvious site.

“From our point of view and the view of many competitors, Ocean Views is the nearest site, it’s a former military base so it’s fairly secure and it already has gated access. Comer Homes is definitely interested in providing accommodation for an Olympic Village on the site.

“They’ve already been in touch with Weymouth and Portland Borough Council as the first point of call and they’re also speaking to the LOCOG who will decide on the accommodation issue.

“I’ve heard the Officers’ Field site has also been put forward as a venue but that would involve sailors being ferried off for meals elsewhere.

“At Ocean Views we would be able to offer a purpose-built accommodation block on areas where we already have outline planning permission.”

Mr Munro-Price said several British sailors already rented properties at the 203-apartment block Atlantic House, the first to be completed on the Ocean Views site.

He said work was still underway on the Prince Andrew House apartment block which could an Olympic Village venue, although as Comer Homes has outline planning permission for 550 properties on the site, something more purpose-built could be created. The development has a swimming pool and jacuzzi and recently was in demand from international sailors during the recent windsurfing world cup and Sail for Gold events in the borough.

Mr Munro-Price said only a small number of Ocean Views apartments were allocated for affordable housing.

It has been hoped that the Olympic Village will later become low-cost homes for local people.

A spokesman for Weymouth and Portland Housing said approximately 3,300 people in Weymouth and Portland were currently on the housing register.

The recently closed 78-room four-star Portland Spa Hotel and conference centre has also been suggested as a potential site for Olympic Village development. A spokesman for KPMG, the appointed administrator of the hotel and Southwell Estates Ltd, said they were unable to comment on the matter.

Building work began last month (SEPT) on the development for 77 low carbon homes on the former Royal Navy land, Officers’ Field, owned by the South West Regional Development Agency (RDA).

A spokesman for the Poundbury-based sustainable developer ZeroC, which is working with the RDA to redevelop the 1.95 hectare Osprey Quay site, denied that the Olympic Village would be situated there.

Work on the ZeroC scheme is expected to be completed in December 2011.

It will feature new streets, a public square and 19 units of affordable houses for local people.

The Olympic Village, wherever it is situated, will house up to 400 international athletes for the few weeks of the sailing events. However, around 500-600 bedrooms would be needed to house all the competitors and officials.