The Observer: "Two huge mergers have brought consolidation to the world of big retail property – a sign that even the largest malls are feeling the economic chill"

Link to web site

"[Opening a £600m extension to Westfield White City] looks like madness in the current economic climate. British households are facing the biggest squeeze on living standards since records began, while the trend for online shopping is prompting many retailers to close, rather than open, stores.

This tough environment is what sowed the seeds for this month's game of shopping-centre Top Trumps, with ... British property group Hammerson buying smaller rival Intu for £3.4bn, then Australian billionaire Sir Frank Lowy pulling a rabbit out of the hat by agreeing to sell his family's Westfield shopping centre empire, including its two London malls, to France's Unibail-Rodamco for £19bn.

"... Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Toys R Us are among the chains who have announced plans to close branches, while many former BHS premises remain empty. There is also speculation in property circles that big high street names such as House of Fraser could be among retailers considering a company voluntary arrangement – an insolvency procedure used by retailers to reduce their rent liabilities or close stores."

Instead of Westfield swallowing Hammerson... Daily Telegraph: "French shopping centre giant Unibail Rodamco swallows Westfield in £18bn deal"

Link to web site

"Shopping centre giant Westfield is to be acquired by France's Unibail-Rodamco in a deal that will create a $72bn (£54bn) retail property empire spanning Britain, the United States and much of continental Europe.

"Shareholders in Westfield Corporation, which owns malls in White City and Stratford, London, will receive $7.55 per share at a 7.8pc premium, valuing the Australia-listed company at $24.7bn.

"Westfield employed 523 people in the UK as of last December and is currently working on a new shopping centre in Croydon, south London, which is not expected to be threatened by the deal."

The Observer: "As corporate goliaths grow ever larger, Britain looks increasingly exposed"

Link to web site

"... Last week came another small milestone, in Britain. Hammerson, a property company few will have heard of, swooped on its rival, Intu, even less well known, in a £3.2bn bid. Yet the outcome will affect us all. Many major shopping malls – London's Brent Cross, Birmingham's Bullring, Manchester's Trafford Park, Oxfordshire's Bicester Village – will be owned by the same company. Hammerson will be the arbiter of how we shop: what stores are positioned where, in what mall and at what rent; it can even determine the restrictions on forms of permissible public activity in its private spaces.

"Hammerson will argue that it had no choice. So much shopping is online that the mall is looking increasingly like a late 20th-century phenomenon, outdated and outmoded. E-shopping is booming and, with the advent of virtual reality, you can go beyond browsing online to 'handling' the goods you plan to buy. Hammerson's only option is to buy up its competitors and try to hold the digital invaders at bay.

"You can see its point, but its monopolistic grip on the market will be such that it is better empowered to resist declines in rent and will take any opportunity to lift them. Our competition authorities stand idly by, helpless onlookers rather than proactive interveners."

Britain's worst property developer Hammerson stays out of the jaws of Westfield by merging with Intu

Link to Daily Telegraph

"Hammerson has agreed to acquire fellow retail property giant Intu, in an all-share deal that would create a company with assets of more than £21bn.

"Hammerson chief executive David Atkins said:

"The acquisition creates a leading pan-European platform of desirable retail and leisure destinations which are better positioned to serve the needs of our retailers, excite our customers and support our partners and communities.

Sure, our Brent Cross development masterplanners admitted at the public local inquiry last year that it had not consulted the public once in the last 15 years, but hey ho, that's the cut and thrust of business, and the public can go hang." [He didn't say that last sentence. Although he could have done.]

BBC: "Renting in retirement: How feasible is it?"

Link to web site

"Home ownership can be a thing of beauty. Just as you don a pair of fur-lined slippers and spend more time on the golf course, you find you have paid off your mortgage. For the rest of your life, accommodation is effectively free.

"But this utopian model is becoming the exception. High house prices mean we are borrowing more for longer. And more significantly, the UK is slowly ceasing to become a nation of homeowners.

"Over the next 15 years the number of people renting their home from a private landlord is expected to double to more than nine million."

[Reposted from Aug 2015, followed by Nov 2017 update] Saving Cricklewood's Green Space from the London Borough of Barnet

(2013 poster)

FINCHLEY & GOLDERS GREEN RESIDENTS FORUM
Crown Moran Hotel (Sala Room),
142 - 152 Cricklewood Broadway,
Cricklewood, London NW2 3ED

WEDNESDAY, 15 JANUARY 2014 at 6.30pm
Chairman: Councillor Graham Old
Vice-Chairman: Councillor John Marshall

ISSUE RAISED:

"Cricklewood Lane green space (adjacent to B&Q) This green space is a valuable community space in a densely built over environment. Recent ground works to establish what services are located where under the turf seem to indicate that Barnet is going to go ahead and build over this space. Rumours are that the Rosa Friedman Centre will be relocated here as a stage of the Brent Cross Development plan and together with other buildings, not specified, could mean this space being crowded out with buildings up to 5 storeys high. 

"This is outrageous. This land was ceded to the residents of Cricklewood as part of a section 106 planning gain when the B&Q building was constructed. How can Barnet now take this back to help them solve issues arising from the Brent Cross Development plan?"

RESPONSE:

"A number of local residents have commented on the Brent Cross Cricklewood Section 73 planning application objecting to the inclusion in the outline planning application of the space adjacent to the B&Q building on Cricklewood Lane. This area totals some 0.2 ha.

"The proposals in the Section 73 application currently under consideration remain unchanged for the uses and for the maximum and minimum heights for this site from the scheme permitted in 2010.

"However, it has been proposed to move this site from Phase 2 to Phase 1 as it is a site where the early provision of housing accommodation could potentially be achieved.

"This space is not designated within the Local Plan or approved planning application as open space although (as explained below) it was provided for use as public open space as part of the planning process leading to approval of the adjoining retail development and was transferred to the Council for that purpose.

"In the 2010 Permission, this site (Plot 58) was granted outline consent for retail or health uses on the ground floor and residential uses on the on the upper floors. It was programmed for delivery in Phase 2 of the development.

"This site had historically been subject to anti-social behaviour and a building was approved in this location under the outline consent as it was felt that there were urban design reasons for continuing the built frontage to this side of Cricklewood Lane. The building approved in outline under the 2010 Permission would provide a continuous active frontage to an area dominated at present by the blank side of the B & Q building.

"This area was provided as open space at the time of the construction of the present store (now B & Q) under the terms of a S52 agreement dated 30 January 1987 and was acquired from the Crown Commissioners by the Council in September 2004 with a restrictive covenant requiring it to be used as open space.

"Both of these restrictions are not unusual situations when comprehensively developing sites in existing urban areas such as town centres. Statutory powers under Section 237 of the Town and Country Planning Act would be used to override these restrictions at the implementation stage, if appropriate, in order to allow this part of the BXC development to be delivered.

"Since 2010 a number of community events have been held on this site, and there is now substantial local support to retain this area as open space. In response to this, proposals are also advanced to widen the paved area and plant trees in this location funded by the Mayor of London through the Outer London Fund (OLF). These recent OLF proposals are potentially compatible with the BXC proposals.

"Although it is noted that this space provides a level of local amenity space it should be noted that the qualitative and quantitative improvement to local open spaces provided early in the wider BXC scheme delivery programme will mitigate the loss of this space. In addition, it is likely that some increased area of public realm will be provided and retained as part of the Outer London Fund proposals.

"The Section 73 application will be considered by the Planning and Environment Committee and local residents’ comments will be reported for Members' consideration."

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