Man linked to failed flats development has £1.28m mansion
THE Weekly News has visited Wales to take exclusive pictures of the £1.28m mansion belonging to a company director connected to two key firms linked to a doomed controversial flats project in Runcorn.
Nestled in stunning scenery close to a spectacular valley and ancient landmarks, the Grade IIlisted country home is owned by old Etonian property developer Charles Alexander Clunie Cunningham.
Land Registry deeds obtained by the Weekly News revealed that the property’s registered owners are Mr Cunningham and his wife, who together are listed as having bought the hall for £1.28m in May 2016.
The deeds also list the mansion as the couple’s address.
The large mansion is in sharp contrast to the small studio flats proposed for East Lane House in Runcorn, which were never built in any case, but also in sharp contract to the derelict eyesore that residents contended with then and continue to contend with now despite some boarding and clearup works undertaken.
Readers will be familiar with Mr Cunningham’s name and his connection to two companies linked to the failed East Lane House studio flats scheme in Runcorn.
Even a snapshot of the background to the property saga is labyrinthine and complicated, and unforgiving to any attempts at simplification.
A comprehensive round-up of all the companies, individuals and a key events would run for pages and potentially fill a book.
In brief:
Old-Etonian Mr Cunningham had been a director at Manchesterbased DS7 Ltd, which was the firm registered as having provided finance for the proposed construction project.
DS7 Ltd was slapped with a winding-up order on October 25, and had previously been served with two compulsory strike-off orders from the
Government’s official business register Companies House, only for proceedings to be suspended.
Compulsory windingup proceedings began for DS7 Ltd began in September.
Earlier this year, Mr Cunningham was appointed as a director at 2380 Reversions Ltd, which was the registered owner of the Runcorn office block East Lane House in 2015 at the time of the controversial proposals to convert the derelict former office into 448 mainly one-bed studio flats, in a scheme officially undertaken by Absolute Living Developments (ALD), which has since collapsed and had six directors banned amid claims from angry investors who said they were left out of pocket after investing in uncompleted ALD schemes – albeit with East Lane House not featuring among the schemes being looked into by liquidators seeking to recoup creditors’ cash.
Mr Cunningham was not a director, shareholder, person with significant control or any other documented role at ALD.
Under a ‘charge’ financing arrangement, ALD was supposed to owe cash to DS7 Ltd to repay it for financing the failed and uncompleted building projects.
H However, in i her h most t recent update, Louise Brittain, liquidator, noted that she did not consider the ‘charge’ arrangements for the four property schemes covered by the liquidation proceedings to be ‘valid’.
A settlement agreement had been reached whereby investors – who had originally made claims for £67m – will receive up to £18m.
Ms Brittain reported that £24m of those claims were from DS7 Ltd and she excluded them from working out what investors were owed.
She added that a large proportion of the claims were for damages from the knock-on effect of losing investment capital, and put the investments lost at closer to £6m.
The schemes covered in the ALD liquidation proceedings di are Olicana Oli House and Alexander House in Bradford, and The Printhouse and Spa Mill in Manchester.
East Lane House was sold to a company unconnected to any of the above companies in September 2016.
According to the Land Registry, 2380 Reversions bought East Lane House on December 2, 2014, for £1m.
In 2015, Absolute Living Developments pushed through its controversial plans to turn East Lane House into flats after appeal to the Planning Inspectorate following Halton Borough Council planning chiefs’ refusal to approve the ‘barmy’ scheme, which one councillor warned would become the ‘slums of the future’ if the project went ahead.
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It never did.
Ms Brittain is also seeking to seize a Swiss chalet belonging to Andrew Camilleri, a registered person with significant control at DS7 Ltd and 2380 Reversions and DS7 Ltd, as a means of repaying investors.
East Lane House is under new ownership and plans for a part-demolition, part-conversion to a ‘boutique’ hotel, flats, houses and supported living flats are in the pipeline.
A bat survey was recently spotted on site.
Mr Cunningham was also the chief executive of controversial developer Fresh Start Living, which Mr Cunningham left as a director in 2017 and is subject to court windingup proceedings having gone into liquidation in 2013.