Work halted on £80m site (From Daily Echo)

Work halted on £80m site

9:38am Friday 18th July 2008 in

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ONE of Hampshire's biggest builders has stopped work on a £80m housing scheme following the collapse of the property market.

Award-winning Redrow Homes has shelved plans to build more than 300 flats on the old Webbs chicken factory site in Bridge Road, Lymington.

Earlier this year Redrow demolished the factory and levelled the ground - but all activity has now ceased.

Hailed as the biggest development in the town for 60 years, the Lymington Shores scheme was given planning permission amid claims that it would transform a seven-acre site overlooking the Lymington River.

Redrow has issued a statement claiming it is still committed to the project but the company was unable to say when work will begin.

It came on the day that the Government announced that hundreds more homes than expected would have to be built across the south in the next 20 years.

House builders across the country have put projects on hold amid fears that prospective buyers will be denied mortgages because of the credit crisis.

The first part of the Lymington Shores scheme was originally due to be completed in the autumn.

Yesterday huge Redrow signs announcing that homes will be "coming soon" were still outside the site and seven company flags were continuing to fly above the entrance.

However, the site itself was locked and deserted.

Donald Mackenzie, of the Lymington Society, said: "I haven't heard anything officially but there have been rumours that Redrow have put the site in mothballs and abandoned building there for the time being.

"Like all builders, Redrow are under financial pressure.

"There are said to be about halfa- million unsold flats across the country and building another 300 in Lymington probably wouldn't make a lot of sense at the current time.

"I hope the site remains safe and secure. We don't want to see children running around, putting themselves and possibly others at risk."

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