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Ally Pally plans shelved

Catherine Deshayes

Firoka Group has pulled out of plans to create a £55 million leisure and residential development at Alexandra Palace in north London.

Set within 196 acres of glorious parkland, the Victorian splendor of the Palace was under threat when Firoka was selected as preferred investment partner in January 2006.

The company had planned to create an enormous new development bursting with shops, entertainment and apartments on the site of the Palace, which is 7.5 acres big.

Last year, Firoka's Firoz Kassam said, "Our aim is to work with the Trustees of Alexandra Palace to make it London's leading venue for exhibitions, leisure and entertainment.

"Extensive refurbishment will take place to ensure the historic nature of the building is maintained while providing modern facilities to meet the demands of the leisure market. We are very excited about making our plans reality."

The Charity Commission had initially agreed to allow Haringey Council, which owns the Palace, and the Palace Charitable Trust to grant a 125-year lease to Firoka.

However, the redevelopment met a great deal of opposition from local residents, and plans hit real problems after north London resident Jacob O'Callaghan sought a judicial review of the commission's decision and launched the campaign group ‘Save Ally Pally' last year.

He said the decision to grant Firoka a long lease was unlawful because the details of the lease and other related documents were not made public during the public consultation and prevented consultees from making a ‘meaningful response'.

Earlier this week, the Alexandra Palace Charitable Trust (APCT) said it had received notification from Firoka, headed by former chairman of Oxford United Football Club Firoz Kassam, that it was no longer interested in being involved in the future of Alexandra Palace.

The notification follows more than a year of negotiations between the Trust and Firoka.

Matt Cooke, Chair of the APCT, said, "As this option for moving forward closes I am determined that we will grasp the opportunity this now gives us to explore new ways of realising our objective of securing Ally Pally's future in an exciting and sustainable way.

"We will be reviewing alternatives at the next meeting in order to ensure that the charitable objectives of public resort and recreation are maintained.

"We will take this opportunity to ask the difficult questions and seek realistic proposals for the Palace's future.

"During this period of negotiation we have not been idle and a tremendous amount of work has been done in reinvigorating our trading company culminating in the appointment of a new managing director last week.

"This work gives us a solid foundation for the future - a future which could be tremendously exciting for the Palace," Mr Cooke went on to say.