Stockport regeneration plans halted

Developer Lend Lease has pulled out of the £500 million scheme to rejuvenate Stockport town centre.

The plans for the Bridgefield development, on the A6, included 650,000 square feet (sq ft) of shops, a multi-screen cinema, 250 apartments, 80,000 sq ft of leisure and dining space and 1,750 car parking spaces.

A development agreement between the Australian developer and Stockport metropolitan borough council was signed last July and construction was expected to start in 2010.

Council leader Dave Goddard said the firm has let the town down.

"I am bitterly disappointed that Lend Lease are not moving forward on this incredibly exciting project," he said.

"We all understand the credit crunch is having an effect but their action is bitterly disappointing."

A Lend Lease spokesman told Property Week its withdrawal was as a result of "the deteriorating and unfavourable conditions prevailing in the retail development market".

Lend Lease reported an operating profit after tax of A$262.8 million (£120.34 million) excluding property investment revaluations, to the end of 2007.

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