Brothers’ arrest hits Earl’s Court scheme

Residents fighting to save their homes from demolition in an Earl’s Court regeneration scheme hope the arrest of two billionaire developer brothers could force the plan back to the drawing board.

Thomas and Raymond Kwok, who run Hong Kong’s largest property company Sun Hung Kai, have been held on suspicion of bribery following a swoop by anti-corruption agencies.

Their family trust has a 50 per cent stake in plans to turn the Seagrave Road car park in Earl’s Court into an 808-home development — a project that is seen as the first stage of a much wider regeneration of the area.

The bigger scheme was designed by architect Sir Terry Farrell and would see the demolition of the Gibbs Green and West Kensington estates to create space for four “urban quarters”, with a total of 7,000 homes.

The proposed demolition has been condemned by Ken Livingstone, who accused Tory-run Hammersmith & Fulham council of trying to force Labour voters out of the borough and replace them with Conservatives.

The Kwoks are being held by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption on suspicion of bribery, in the body’s biggest investigation since it was set up in 1974 to root out police and government corruption.

Stephen Cowan, the leader of the Labour opposition on Hammersmith & Fulham council, said: “There are serious questions that need to be answered about the financial viability of the project and what that means for the households wracked with anxiety about the future of their homes.”

Last month, Boris Johnson said he was content to allow the council to decide on the planning application itself. The authority stands to make £100  million by selling land to developer Capco, in which the Kwoks are partners.

West Kensington Estate resident Richard Osband, who has questioned Capco’s ability to deliver the scheme, said: “Does Boris Johnson really want to approve a scheme like this?”

However, a Capco spokesman insisted that the arrests would not affect the regeneration scheme. He said: "Capco continues to monitor the situation closely, but at present has no reason to believe that the entities will not be able to satisfy their obligations under the conditional Joint Venture agreement.