Freeze on building city centre homes (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Freeze on building city centre homes

7:30am Wednesday 5th November 2008

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(2)

A CONTROVERSIAL housing development has been abruptly put on hold, in the same week that St Albans was named as one of the worst areas to be affected by the credit crunch.

Nicholas King Homes says it has been forced to halt the development of the former Oaklands College site in Manor Road after the Icelandic bank backing the development went into administration.

The news comes hot on the heels of an Oxford University study placing St Albans 16th out of 408 areas likely to be worst hit by the economic downturn.

One woman, who does not want to be named, bought a £360,000 two-bedroom flat on the development in July.

Not only has she seen her property drop in value but she now has no idea when it will be ready.

She said: “It’s very frustrating, I’m really angry because there’s nothing I can do but wait.

“I’m in limbo and I really regret my decision.

“I feel cheated to see Nicholas King Homes offering similar flats on the site for up to £30,000 less.

“Now I have no idea when it will be ready and the site looks like an eyesore.”

The project to build flats on the former college site was bitterly opposed in a hard-fought public inquiry as it included the demolition of listed Edwardian houses.

St Albans Civic Society chairman Peter Trevelyan said: “I am most concerned about the listed buildings; I can see that they might end up being abandoned.

“We lost some when building began which we were upset about.

“They need to be looked after or else they will go in to disrepair.

“This is the nature of the financial situation we have found ourselves in.

“The banks have to come up with the money because soon we’ll have lots more half-developed eyesores like this in our area.”

Susan Jacquest, spokeswoman for Nicholas King Homes, said: “We have had no choice but to temporarily suspend building on the site because the bank we’re involved with, Heritable Bank, which is part of the Landisbanki group, has been put in administration.

“Until we hear further from the bank’s administrators we have no idea when it will resume.

“We are keeping our customers informed.

“It’s very disappointing for us. It’s a situation we’ve rather been forced into.”

Speaking about Oxford University’s findings, St Albans MP Anne Main said: “This is very worrying.

“High house prices in our area, coupled with the numbers of people working in the finance and supporting sectors mean we are particularly exposed to this economic downturn.

“We are also an area of particularly high credit card and personal debt, and sadly all these factors mean that many people will be struggling to keep their heads above water at the moment.

“As is shown by this report, St Albans needs help as much as any other area, but too often we don’t get it.”

St Albans Citizens Advice Bureau told the Review it was not surprised to learn that the district was struggling in the unstable economic climate.

Money advisor Lesley Gordon said there had been a dramatic increase in the number of calls from people struggling with fuel debt, catalogue debt, and rent arrears as well as those seeking advice for credit and store card debt over the past few months.

She said: “I think St Albans has been an affluent area and people have borrowed to high levels in the good times when they could service these debts.

“But when these living costs get higher and the squeeze is on, they don’t have so much money to service these debts.

“They use credit to keep up for a while to reach the ceiling of their credit card debt and then they have nowhere to go – that’s the situation we’re seeing a lot.

“I can only urge people to seek advice sooner, rather than later.”

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(2)