Green Belt housing scheme promoted by footballers leaves investors in the red
Investors from the Far East have been left without a penny gain in four years after putting money into a “get rich quick” property scheme promoted by two former England football players.
By David Hencke – Telegraph.co.uk
Published: 9:00PM GMT 13 Mar 2010
A marketing campaign fronted by Bryan Robson, the former England captain, and Steve McMahon promised a 250 per cent return in three years if a gravel pit near Heathrow airport was developed for housing and leisure.
However, the site is on green belt land where housing development is banned.
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While Profitable Group, the Singapore-based property company behind the scheme, has made at least £47 million from the deal, nothing has yet materialised at the site – not even a planning application to build a single house.
The two former footballers, now living in the Far East, used their celebrity status to market the scheme on television across south-east Asia in 2006.
Profitable changed the name of the tract of land from Lower Feltham Lakes to Concorde Village for the purposes of the marketing drive.
But no development can take place unless a planning inspector can be persuaded to overrule the site’s green belt status against the wishes of Hounslow council, the local planning authority, which firmly opposes building there.
A spokesman for the council said: “We would only develop green belt land if there were very special reasons. We see no special reasons for doing so on this site.”
Profitable, of which Mr McMahon is commercial director, has bought four sites in Britain for a few million pounds and divided them into thousands of tiny plots which have been offered to investors, bringing in tens of millions for the company.
The Feltham site was bought from Taylor Woodrow (now Taylor Wimpey) for £3.2 million, then resold in small plots at £8,000 to £13,000 each to overseas investors, a practice known as “landbanking”.
The sales raised something between £50 million and £55 million. Investors will realise the cash when and if the land is redeveloped.
To try to develop the Feltham site, the company has now brought in two British lobbying and consulting firms to market the scheme and draw up plans for the development.
Chelgate, a Westminster lobbying company, has sought to counter the council’s opposition by devising a public consultation procedure, including the staging of an exhibition with five different ideas to develop the site for housing and leisure, to which 5,500 households were invited.
Chelgate’s deputy chairman is Nick Wood-Dow, an adviser to David Cameron and deputy chairman of the Conservative party’s environment council.
The other company working for Profitable is DLP Planning in Sheffield, which is seeking to make changes to a London-wide land-use plan in a move that would increase Hounslow’s housing target, forcing the borough to accept more new homes within its borders. However, the final plan will not be drawn up until 2012.
Mr Robson told The Sunday Telegraph: “I was paid to do a commercial TV advert to be shown on Singapore TV five years ago for Profitable Plots.
“I have not done anything for them since and I was unaware of any controversy over development of the land.”
Profitable declined to take questions and instead asked Chelgate and DLP Planning to reply on its behalf. Chelgate confirmed that a television campaign featuring the footballers had been used to promote the deal. The advertisement is still on Profitable’s website.
A Chelgate spokesman said: “Circulation of a TV advertisement showing land at Feltham… as offering an estimated return of 250 per cent in three years, was aired for a short period in 2006… such advertising has long since been withdrawn. Investments have been sold on a minimum 7 to 10-year horizon.”
Chelgate also said the company would repay anybody who wanted to drop out of the scheme. Its spokesman added: “No investors in the Lower Feltham land have exercised their right to sell.”
Link to original Telegraph Article
It’s time the government woke up and took action 
