Express & Star

Wolverhampton Tesco plans stalled again

Tesco has revealed its plans for a Wolverhampton store are under review as it emerged the beleaguered supermarket giant is looking to sell off unused sites to raise hundreds of millions of pounds.

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The country's biggest retailer is set to embark on a fire sale of undeveloped land as it bids to shore up its balance sheet on the back of a series of profit warnings.

And it can be revealed today that the long-awaited £65 million store at former Royal Hospital site in All Saints is now under consideration.

Just two months ago bosses said they were still committed to building a store there.

The site has already been a focus of frustration for the city, having been the subject of numerous delays since Tesco first unveiled plans for a new Wolverhampton store more than 10 years ago.

Council bosses are banking on the development creating hundreds of jobs and breathing new life into one of the city's most deprived areas. Tesco's new chief executive Dave Lewis has been handed a remit to sort out the struggling company's flagging profits, with a sale of unused sites.

And a spokesman from the firm, Richard Holligan, said: "This review is looking at how we can best serve customers and communities in the future and will inevitably affect our approach to property development, including our plans in Wolverhampton.

"We know that many people in the local community are keen to see the new store open and we're very grateful for the support we've received for our plans. We'll provide an update as soon as we can and in the meantime we're continuing to make good progress on site with the restoration of the Royal Hospital building."

Tesco was found to have overstated its profits by more than £260m in the past two years after prematurely booking returns on promotions from suppliers. The practice led to the suspension of eight executives, while chairman Sir Richard Broadbent stood down.

Work to restore sections of the Grade II listed Royal Hospital building started earlier this year, while in recent months workers have been on site laying underground pipework.

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