"All in all, a very poor show..." £62m project to transform dilapidated 'monstrosity' hits the buffers

A huge £62 million project to transform a dilapidated office block described as a 'monstrosity' by an MP has hit the buffers. Planning permission was granted two years ago to demolish East Lane House in Runcorn, an office block left disused for more than 20 years.

A developer had planned to build 153 homes, an 85-room hotel and a 66-bed care home on the site. But no work has been carried out and the developer now says the project is 'probably unviable', Cheshire Live reports.

Bosses have blamed rises in interest rates and the local council. "The issue is that the world has unfortunately moved on," said Paul Baksh, spokesperson for Shah Capital Trading Ltd, the firm that purchased the site in October 2016 for £1,650,000.

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He added: "As you are aware, over the recent period the incumbent government have pretty much torpedoed the development industry with successive and unsustainable rises in interest rates and have done a pretty decent job of setting the UK economy back decades. The project funding has been massively harmed and the project now is probably unviable," said Mr Baksh.

He went on to blame Halton Borough Council for delays to the project starting, pushing it into the current economic climate, saying the firm had "badgered" the council to release a section 106 agreement, relating to the development's impact on the community.

The council said delays in signing the legal agreement were not the fault of the council and were instead caused by delays in receiving required information from the applicant. Mr Baksh said: "For some time we had badgered the local authority to release the section 106 agreement, which was required to turn the 'resolution