Quintain Wembley homes bid in hitch

A MASSIVE Richard Rogers-designed residential development in Wembley could see the new £750m National Stadium engulfed in a vast housing estate, locals are warning.

The company masterminding the project, Quintain Estates - which is also behind London's other major brownfield site regeneration scheme around the Millennium Dome - has been warned that if it goes ahead with plans for up to 4,000 flats and houses, Wembley residents will be up in arms.

Quintain directors were confronted at the property company's annual meeting last week when executives were asked to detail plans of what they are planning to put on the 55 acres of land acquired around the old Wembley Stadium, now under reconstruction.

Peter Corcoran, representing a group of Wembley residents' associations told the meeting that local homeowners were 'well capable of delaying projects for two to three years' if they were not happy with Quintain's plans.

Speaking outside the meeting Corcoran said: 'The area is wholly unsuitable for the scale of development we are hearing about, with plans for between 3,000 and 4.000 residential units. Such plans would leave the new National Stadium in the middle of a vast housing estate. This is not what was envisaged when the bidding was won to build the stadium here. The aim was for a world-class stadium in a world-class environment.

'The area simply does not have the social infrastructure in place to cope with such a development. It should not be underestimated that the local residents are quite capable of making life difficult for Quintain.'

Quintain property director Nick Shattock sought to play down the threat, saying the company is consulting fully with local residents.

Ahead of an exhibition this week of its latest plans for the site at the Wembley Conference Centre, which Quintain also owns, Shattock declined to give details of its detailed thinking on the development of the site.

But he conceded its plans include a 'substantial element of residential' as well as mixed retail/residential and mixed commercial/residential development. 'It will be a fundamental part of the community and bring in much needed facilities,' he said.

Mayor Ken Livingstone has said he backs the regeneration plans so long as the development includes affordable housing. This summer he gave the green light to Quintain's plans for the £4bn redevelopment of the land around the Dome in Greenwich.

Detailed planning on the Dome site goes in by the end of the year and Quintain and joint venture partner Lend Lease of Australia aim to start work in 2005.

Quintain shares have soared to a record 334 1/2p on hopes for Wembley and Greenwich.