Developer 'could be prosecuted' over Beatties delay

In September the Eden property group, which acquired Beatties just under a year ago, was granted permission to turn the 100-year-old Art Deco department store into 306 apartments and 73,000 sq ft of commercial floorspace. 

But Councillor Chris Burden, Wolverhampton Council's cabinet member for city development, said the company had failed to submit a timeline for the work, as was required by the planning consent.

He said the council was now considering launching a prosecution against the company over its failure to comply with an enforcement notice requiring it to tidy the building.

Councillor Burden said: “As a condition of the planning, the developer is required to submit a phasing plan to establish a clear timeline for the work.

“As this has not yet been received, the council reserves the right to begin prosecution proceedings against the owners for not complying with the enforcement notice requiring them to tidy up the building."

Hiten Raghwani, director of the Eden Group, said the holiday period had led to a delay in submitting the time schedule. He said he would be writing to the council's legal department today, and said the relevant documentation would all be completed by Friday.

Councillor Burden said every possible action was being taken to ensure progress was being made on this important development, as well as other critical regeneration sites in the city.

"Officers from our planning and city development teams remain in regular contact with the owner to offer support and encourage action to move things forward," he said.

“This is why the Vacant Properties Taskforce was launched, with the purpose of proactively working with owners of buildings to offer planning, investment and business support advice on bringing properties back into use.

“Where this is not fruitful then the council will serve section 215 notices to force owners to tidy their land and buildings and will prosecute owners if they are unresponsive. 

“We will continue to use the full extent of our albeit limited powers to bring the iconic Beatties building back into meaningful use.”

The building has been empty for four years, after House of Fraser, having been bought by Mike Ashley's Sports Direct group, moved to smaller premises at the former Debenhams department store in the Mander Centre. 

The building was acquired by SSYS Beatties, whose sole director was Pragnesh Modhwadia, chief executive of the now-collapsed law firm Axiom Ince.

The company submitted two plans to redevelop the building, but neither of them progressed, In September 2023, Wolverhampton Council issued an enforcement notice ordering SSYS Beatties to tidy the building. But the following month receivers were called in over unpaid debts, and it emerged the Serious Fraud Office was investigating the disappearance of £64 million from Axiom Ince's client funds. Mr Modhwadia was initially suspended from operating as a solicitor, and has now been charged with fraud. 

In February last year the Eden group, led by businessmen Hiten Raghwani and George Dhillon, announced it had bought the site from receivers for £6 million, with a view to bringing it back into use. 

The new company was granted permission to redevelop the site, and produced computer-generated images of how the building would look.