LXB Retail Properties has warned that there could be further delays to its Rushden Lakes development in Northamptonshire.
The developer, which is working with owner the Crown Estate on the development, said that delays would be likely following matters “entirely outside of the group’s control.”
The planning application was originally approved by the planning committee of East Northamptonshire Council in February and was expected to be approved before May this year but was delayed until after the UK General Election.
Following the UK government’s decision not to review the application, LXB said that it expected the section 106 agreement would be promptly signed so that full planning permission could be granted.
The agreement was then not finalised until mid-July and it needed to be signed by three local authorities and as a result has taken around two months to secure the necessary consents to proceed.
Consequently, East Northamptonshire Council was only in a position to issue the planning consent on 11 September and the statutory review period will not expire until 23 October.
The variations to the funding agreement with the Crown Estate become unconditional 10 working days after the review period has expired so, even though all of the other elements required for that variation to become unconditional are satisfied, the earliest time when matters will be final and funds are received will now be 6 November.
Now the company will have to have a meeting before the end of November to put forward proposals to shareholders about the option of liquidating, restructuring or reorganising the company. However, it added that these should not be finalised until it has finalised an agreement with the Crown Estate.
LXB said: “This lengthy and unexpected delay in issue of the planning permission means that the board has concluded that it is no longer appropriate to put proposals to shareholders by 30 November 2017 in compliance with the current articles of association. While the delay is unfortunate, it does not impact on the board’s intentions as described in the interim results announcement on 5 June 2017.
“However, it will be necessary to seek an amendment to the articles of association to extend the long stop date. Accordingly, an extraordinary general meeting will be convened to consider a single proposal to amend the articles of association by replacing 30 November 2017 with 28 February 2018 as the date by which proposals must be considered by shareholders and the board will urge all shareholders to vote in favour of that amendment. A notice to convene the extraordinary general meeting will be posted to shareholders shortly.”
Chief executive Tim Walton added: “We are obviously pleased that the planning position has now been confirmed but this unexpected delay is more than a little frustrating. On a more positive note however, the opening of phase 1 at Rushden Lakes at the end of July was a huge success with very positive feedback received from both tenants and visitors. That reinforces our belief that, with the addition of the later phases in due course, Rushden Lakes will become one of the UK’s top out-of-town retail and leisure destinations.”
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