Lambeth taxpayers will save supermarket giant Tesco £3m by stumping up cash for a controversial shopping and leisure centre, it has been claimed.

Lambeth Council agreed to pay a £19m contribution to the controversial Streatham Hub project, due to open in 2013, which includes a supermarket, a leisure centre and new homes.

But members of Save Skating in Streatham believe the council will now pay proportionately more as it fixed the amount it would pay and prices had fallen during the recession.

The group’s chairman Trevor Hutton described the council’s decision to contribute a capped sum as "panic buying", adding it should have instead agreed to a percentage contribution of the overall development.

He said: "It was decided in a market where prices were on the up.

"It wasn’t in their minds it was going to go down.

"The council is now paying the lion’s share for the leisure centre."

Tesco originally estimated the leisure centre would cost £26m, but that figure was put up to £30m in 2008, when the council agreed its fixed contribution, Mr Hutton said.

This week a Lambeth Council spokesman said the leisure centre was valued at £23m but Mr Hutton said the cost of the leisure centre could fall to as little as £20m – meaning Tesco would save £3m.

The development has previously sparked debate because skating teams fear the new leisure centre, which also includes an ice-skating rink, will not be able to accommodate them.

Work recently began on a temporary ice-rink on the site of the old Pope’s Road car park in Brixton- set to open in January 2012.

But skating groups believed the temporary rink could prompt clashes between Brixton and Streatham youths, while traders were concerned a lack of parking spaces could have a catastrophic effect on the market.

Mr Hutton said: "We want it to be a success. "We are not objecting for the sake of objecting.

"We have always said if the plan is going to work then we will run with it.

"But Streatham is going to have nothing for two years.

"I cannot see where the justification is in Lambeth maintaining for the loss of all these facilities."

The council spokesman said it could not afford to build the leisure centre without the supermarket chain’s contribution, adding the permanent ice rink would eventually be part of Lambeth’s leisure services, where previously it had been privately owned.

A spokesman for Tesco did not comment on the leisure centre costs, but said construction costs for the whole development had fallen by 15 per cent, saving Tesco £8m.

He estimated the total cost of the development would be between £100m and £110m.

He said: "If you go back four or five years then it probably is a bit cheaper.

"But we are delivering exactly what we said we would deliver."