Capco Denies Agreeing to Hand West Ken Estates Back to Council
While Council Leader urges developer to stick to deal he says was struck in March
Last November, Council Leader Cllr Stephen Cowan said he and council colleagues were "negotiating heard" with Capco over the estates, and he now claims a deal was struck in March.
Trade publication Property Week says it has seen a letter from Cllr Cowan to residents informing them that he has asked Capco to stick to the agreement he claims was made between himself and Capco’s chief executive Ian Hawksworth.
In the letter he wrote: "On 2 March 2018 Capco’s chief executive told the council that the Capco board had agreed that it is in the best interest of both Capco and the council to return the West Kensington and Gibbs Green Estates, Gibbs Green School and Farm Lane to the council.
"I have written to the Capco board urging them to stick to this statement and do so quickly."
However, a spokeswoman for Capco denied the agreement had been made.
She said: " The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham have expressed interest in pursuing alternative options for the estates.
"Capco continues to engage with LBHF and other stakeholders in relation to future plans for the estates. In the meantime, the conditional land sale agreement, a binding agreement entered into with LBHF in relation to the estates in 2013, remains in place."
However, a spokesman for H&F Council said the council maintained the text of the letter was accurate and that Capco had agreed to hand back the estates during the March meeting.
Cowan added that the council would return funds already paid to it by Capco in return for cancelling the conditional land sale agreement.
He wrote: " All the money we would need to do this remains ready and can be released with 10 days’ notice."
The Labour leader took the helm of the council in June 2014 after the previous Conservative administration had approved CapCo's plan to demolish of the two housing estates.
He added: " For nearly ten years now, thousands of residents who live on the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates have suffered too much uncertainty and worry about the future of their homes.
"We think it’s right that we end that. I hope the Capco board share that sentiment and act with expediency to do so."
This latest twist in the Earls Court saga came a week after Capco revealed another £52m loss in the development's value, bringing total writedowns at the scheme to more than £450m since 2016.
The group, which is currently considering a demerger to split its two core holdings at Covent Garden and Earls Court into two separately listed businesses, reported the latest writedown in its half year results for the six months to the end of June.
Capco reported Earls Court is now valued at £707m, 7% down since the end of December 2017.
So far just one phase of the development, Lillie Square, has been completed, while the 31 storey Empress State Building, which Capco had intended to turn into apartments was instead sold to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime for £250 million in March this year.
News of negotiations to hand back the estates was received with joy and relief by residents in November last year. At the time, Community Organiser, Jonathan Rosenberg, issued the following statement from the estates' three residents organisations: "At £18 billion, the Earl’s Court scheme is the most valuable on-site urban redevelopment in the world outside of China.
"For nine long years, residents have been fighting to save their homes and preserve their community. Our campaign has been through some very dark times. But right now there is a tremendous wave of excitement sweeping across the estates.
"The Council Leader is working very hard to get the estates out of the land sale contract. We believe that our campaign is on course for victory and we look forward to finally lifting the curse that has so sorely afflicted our community."
You can read more about the residents' campaign to save their homes at their website The People's Estates.
August 3, 2018
