House of Lords throws out appeal by Land Secs which claimed project would blight nearby shopping centres

Land Securities has lost its protest to block the 拢1bn plan for a new town on the former Ravenscraig steelworks in Scotland after the House of Lords threw out its appeal today.

Developer Land Securities, which has shopping centre interests in nearby towns, said the regeneration plans flew in the face of government policy to protect shopping centres.

However today the House of Lords threw out the appeal.

The Ravenscraig site in Lanarkshire, Scotland is being redeveloped by the Ravenscraig Partnership - a joint venture between Wilson Bowden Developments, Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire and Corus.

Ian Robertson, chief executive of Wilson Bowden, said: 鈥淭his landmark decision by the House of Lords is tremendous news for the project and allows us to forge ahead with the plans to create an exciting new future for Ravenscraig and a vibrant new town centre for Lanarkshire.鈥�

鈥淲e are delighted today's decision finally clears the way towards bringing this ambitious project off the drawing board and into reality.鈥�

The Ravenscraig project includes the creation of 820 homes, a multi-million pound regional sports facility and the relocation of Motherwell College to a state-of-the-art new campus.

Construction on the 1100 brownfield site is expected to start before the end of the year.