Eight councils contest giant shopping centre: Appeal sees drop in Manchester Ship Canal shares

A CONSORTIUM of local authorities is to mount a High Court challenge to Manchester Ship Canal's planning permission for a giant shopping complex at Dumplington, near Manchester.

MSC shares, which have soared since it announced in February that it expected a positive decision from Michael Howard, the Environment Secretary, fell 10 per cent to pounds 20 on the news yesterday. Eight local authorities, led by Manchester City Council and including Bolton, Bury and Rochdale, will argue that Mr Howard did not give due consideration to the traffic, environmental and shopping impact of the 1 million square foot complex when he granted planning permission last month.

The company said it was confident that the appeal would be rejected and that its planning consent would stand. Mike Butterworth, MSC's property director, said: 'They would have to demonstrate that the Secretary of State had erred in law; we believe their case is very weak.'

He suggested that other developers with shopping centres in the area, such as Land Securities, P&O, MEPC and Norwich Union, were trying to encourage the local councils to fight the Dumplington scheme.

'We are continuing to advance the scheme. We are talking to funders and we've had a tremendous response from retailers,' he said. 'There are some big names keen to be involved.'

Mr Butterworth added that MSC planned to develop the complex alone, although the company had said previously that it was looking for a partner.

The 300-acre site, bounded by the ship canal, Trafford Park and the M63 motorway, is valued at pounds 15m in MSC's books, but the company said it had been revalued in 1990 at pounds 50m with notional planning permission.

The scheme was the subject of a public inquiry held in 1987 and reopened last June. The inspector recommended the project go ahead.

The company said construction would begin in two years' time and take two years. It said 3,000 jobs would be created during construction and a further 6,000 when the shopping and leisure centre opened. The local authorities could not be contacted for comment.

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