Lifting of new shops ban unlocks Lakeside growth

  Liberty International is working up long-held plans to extend its 1.4m sq ft Lakeside mall in Thurrock, Essex, after a ban on building new shopping space in the area was overturned.   Following pressure from Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation and Thurrock council, secretary of state John Denham last week said that Lakeside would be designated as a regional shopping centre within the East of England Plan.   The decision will allow Liberty subsidiary Capital Shopping Centres, as well as the area’s other major landowners, including Capital & Regional and Land Securities, to build more than 500,000 sq ft of shops by 2019.   Jonathan Ainsley, director of asset management for CSC’s southern portfolio, said that the company was in talks with Thurrock council and the development corporation and could submit plans to extend Lakeside shopping centre as early as next year.   Thurrock council, which last year drew up a 2m sq ft masterplan for the regeneration of the Lakeside basin, said this could unlock more than £500m of investment in the area.   Chief executive Niall Lindsay said: “This is a long-overdue policy framework for Lakeside which at long last recognises its proper role and function as a regional shopping centre with a regional catchment area.   “It will be enough to get some large schemes coming out of the ground.”   The new designation, which will be incorporated into Thurrock’s local plan, encourages a “more sustainable mix of uses within the Lakeside basin as a whole so that it provides additional housing and a broader base of employment opportunities”.   patrick.clift@estatesgazette.com