Lend Lease has shrugged off a £5.5m write-down on proposals for 6,000 homes on the site of the North Weald airfield in Essex.
The write-down, which was reported in the group’s annual results today, reflects the impact of a recent report’s recommendation that the North Weald site now be excluded from large-scale development.
Lend Lease is providing for the situation at North Weald and reviewing its options, but company CEO Nigel Hugill said no immediate action would be taken.
The Australian property group acquired the North Weald site after the draft East of England Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) identified it as an area for major residential growth.
But a subsequent independent report, published in June, has recommended the exclusion of a number of areas, including North Weald, from major development in favour of extensions to existing town centres.
However, the shift of focus to town centres will benefit Chelmsford, where Lend Lease recently invested £60m in a 75% stake in Chelmsford’s Meadows shopping centre.
Hugill said: “What we intend to do is let the process take its course.
“We may well make representations during the process, but we are great ones for working with the planning system.
“What the results don’t show is that we made a £7 – £8m investment in North Weald, as opposed to around £75m in Chelmsford.
“We have a second string to our bow, which in some ways is stronger than our first.”
But Ropemaker, which has plans for 10,000 homes in Harlow North – another area where a decision to allow major development now looks likely to be reversed – is considering formal action if the recommendations are followed.
References: EGi News 16/08/06
