The site of the former Dartmouth Hospital has failed to sell at auction yet again, despite going for a reduced price, it has emerged.

It is the third time the disused site has not managed to find a bidder following the latest auction on Thursday, October 24.

Although the site went for between £1.25m and £1.3m - down from the £1.4m-£1.5m guide price at last month’s auction - it still failed to attract a successful bidder.

The price drop was made “following a review of the net book value by the district valuer”, according to the Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.

Paul Heather, the director at Charles Darrow, which arranged the auction, said: “There's as a reluctancy for people to register to bid. I think most of them have a preference to want to buy either before or after the auction, which is kind of where we're at now.”

The former healthcare site, located by Dartmouth’s waterfront, now lies boarded up and needs to be sold to help fund the recently opened £5.4 million health centre.

In January, a ‘preferred’ buyer failed to close a deal, which led to the first auction in July. After it failed to sell, the site went under the hammer for a second time on September 18.

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust was asked to comment.

It is not yet clear whether the site will go up for auction a fourth time.