Plans for a multi-million-pound overhaul of Folkestone seafront have been put on hold while billionaire businessman Roger de Haan battles against the credit crunch.
The former Saga holidays boss wants to build a university campus, ice rink, exhibition area, fast ferry port and 1,400 homes on the site, but is finding it difficult to appoint a company to oversee the project.
However, Mr de Haan’s spokesman Peter Bettley said he expected the issues to be ironed out by early autumn.
He added: “For most of this year we have been negotiating with a preferred development management company that would oversee this project on behalf of Folkestone Harbour Company.
“Obviously for something that could cost between £500 million and £750 million to implement, a company that is putting so much time and resources into it is going to want a large return on that.
“However in the current economic climate it is clearly quite hard to negotiate what that return will be. The situation changes pretty much every week and it’s becoming more and more difficult to get the numbers to stack up.
“It’s taking longer to sort out than anyone forecast but I would ask people not to panic as this development will go ahead eventually.”
Ann Berry, chairman of the action group Go Folkestone, said the redevelopment of the seafront was of great importance to the town.
She said: “It will renew the whole area. Folkestone is one of the most deprived towns in the country so we were delighted when Roger came along with this wonderful scheme.
“It’s a shame it has stalled because we were looking forward to seeing it get under way, but we’re sure Roger will not give up and we will see this development create lots of new jobs and provide a more upbeat feeling for the town.”
Mrs Berry said members of Go Folkestone are due to meet with Mr de Haan’s team on Tuesday to discuss the plans.
She added: “We are very supportive of Roger and we campaigned for his view for the future to come to fruition.
“However there are obviously difficulties in the current economic climate because companies are quite rightly concerned about where they are putting their money.
“The news from the governors of the Bank of England was that the problems with the economy were going to continue for at least the next 18 months, so it’s a testing time for a lot of people.”
The master plan for the Folkestone seafront development was drawn up by the well-respected architects Foster and Partners.
Mr de Haan is also behind the regeneration of the town’s “Creative Quarter” – an area of land stretching from the Old High Street to Tontine Street that also includes the harbour.
POSTED: 17/08/2008 12:00:00
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