The planning application for New Covent Garden Market’s redevelopment project has been delayed by one month and will now be put in front of a November committee.
A spokesman for Wandsworth Council said that the delay is “no surprise or scandal” and is well within the usual limits of a project of this complexity.
'We are working through the scheme details with the applicant and are now looking to put the application before our November planning committee,” he said.
A spokesperson for Covent Garden Tenants’ Association (CGTA) said that some members had met with the council three days before the delay to the planning application was announced, to discuss objections to the applications.
The news comes as eight companies have handed in their notice, including distribution and supply firm Mash Purveyors and wholesaler Fenn & Hexton, to meet a CGMA deadline for tenants’ to sign a five-year lease agreement by the end of September.
Covent Garden Tenants’ Association (CGTA) had asked for the deadline to be extended until details about upcoming rental costs were released in December, but this was refused and the deadline of 30 September was upheld.
Tenants who signed now have a five-year break-out clause, at which point they would be able to leave.
“Those who have made the difficult decision to leave have done so with heavy heart because their businesses have a long history with Covent Garden,' said Gary Marshall, CGTA chairman.
“The CGTA and a number of residents associations want Wandsworth Council to reject the planning application going before them next month,” he added.
