LATE DEVELOPER
PITIFUL placemaking in Cambridgeshire too, as it emerges the council discussed secret plans to bury its hapless housebuilder, This Land Ltd. Confidential papers from earlier this year reveal the Lib Dem authority debated ditching the developer – on the rocks since its 2016 launch despite gargantuan council loans (Eyes passim).
The Cambridgeshire county council (CCC) papers refer to a “managed wind down” of This Land (£120m loan principal outstanding, overall losses £63.8m), describe CCC’s executive director of finance and resources as a “shadow director”, and suggest replacing a 10-year business plan with a five-year one. The papers also reveal bad blood, with This Land complaining the council is unsupportive.