Wolverhampton’s £300 million Summer Row shopping dream was hanging in the balance today after it was hit by a shock legal challenge.

The leaseholder of the rival Wulfrun Shopping Centre says it will go the High Court to halt work on the new development, which is due to become home to 85 stores, bars, restaurants and a 10-screen cinema.

It means work, due to start this autumn, will be delayed for “many months” – and could be halted for good if the High Court ruling goes against Wolverhampton City Council.

Read more in the Express & Star
Wolverhampton’s £300 million Summer Row shopping dream was hanging in the balance today after it was hit by a shock legal challenge.

The leaseholder of the rival Wulfrun Shopping Centre says it will go the High Court to halt work on the new development, which is due to become home to 85 stores, bars, restaurants and a 10-screen cinema.

It means work, due to start this autumn, will be delayed for “many months” – and could be halted for good if the High Court ruling goes against Wolverhampton City Council.

Wulfrun leaseholder London and Cambridge Properties is challenging the legal basis of a compulsory purchase order on 200 city shops, some of which are due to be demolished to make way for Summer Row. The challenge of the CPO, which covers 72,000 sq m of land in the city, will hamper the regeneration of the city, which also includes projects to rebuild the city’s bus and train stations together with the Low Level Station.

Wolverhampton City Council today said it is “extremely disappointed” by the legal challenge and that it could cost “an awful lot of time and money” to defeat.In February the Government ruled that the city council could start on Summer Row, but allowed six weeks for any legal challenges to be made on the compulsory purchase order.

A spokesman for London and Cambridge Properties said: “Quite simply, we believe that the decision from the ministerial inquiry was flawed.”