No recession threat to Streatham Hub, say Tesco (From Kingston Guardian)

No recession threat to Streatham Hub development, say Tesco

7:10am Thursday 26th March 2009 in News By Matt Watts

The Streatham Hub development is not under threat despite Tesco dramatically cutting back its developments during the recession, the supermarket giant has assured residents.

Fears were raised that the leisure, housing and supermarket project next to Streatham station was in serious jeopardy, after reports Tesco was to mothball, sell-off or delay its developments involving housing in London and the South-East.

The Tesco development manager who struck the deal with Lambeth Council to run the scheme - which includes some 250 new homes, a major supermarket, leisure centre, 438 space car park, swimming pool and ice rink - is leaving the supermarket chain, along with his team responsible for mixed-use developments in the capital.

But a spokesman for Tesco said the cutbacks would not affect the Streatham Hub development in any way and the supermarket chain was still fully committed to the project.

A Lambeth Council spokesperson said it would soon meet Tesco to discuss how to move ahead with the Streatham Hub and there was no indication the supermarket chain would pull out of the deal.

Concerns about the hubs future as a result of the recession have been heightened in recent months after a number of delays to the scheme.

In January it was announced that building work on the site would be delayed until October at the earliest.

It was then announced earlier this month work would not begin until 2010 because Tesco rejected construction firms’ tenders to build the project.

Residents are increasingly angry at the delays.

The delivery date is now expected to be 2012.

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