Manchester Ship complex advances

MANCHESTER Ship Canal, the company recently taken private by John Whittaker's Peel Holdings, has won another round in its struggle to build a huge shopping complex at Dumplington, near Manchester.

A High Court judge yesterday dismissed an application from a consortium of local councils complaining against the decision by the Secretary of State for the Environment to grant planning permission for the 1 million sq ft centre.

They argued that he had acted unlawfully by failing to take into account important planning issues before granting permission in March. The consortium, which was backed by a number of big retailers and property companies, is considering an appeal.

It is concerned that nearby town centres will lose out to the centre, accelerating urban decline. It also says that the traffic implications have not been fully examined.

The centre has already been the subject of a public inquiry, begun in 1987 and reopened in June last year. The inspector recommended the project go ahead. MSC has said the project will create 3,000 construction jobs and a further 6,000 when the complex opens.

Frogmore Estates, the property company, has bought the Hart shopping centre in Fleet, Hampshire, from Norwich Union for pounds 13.3m. The centre, which has 100,000 square feet of retail space, has a contracted rent roll of pounds 1.5m, but there are 14 units unlet.