Residents at war over £10 billion 'Shanghai-style' Earl's Court plan

Controversial proposals are causing a huge furore in west London

- JONATHAN PRYNN

On Friday it will be 10 years to the day since indie band Bombay Bicycle Club took to the stage for the final concert at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in front of 20,000 fans.

Earlier there had been a nod to the storied history of the venue when Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour emerged from the wings for a rendition of Wish You Were Here.

Of the 303 concerts played at Earls Court, Pink Floyd topped the bill 27 times, while other big names had included David Bowie, Oasis, George Michael, Coldplay and Madonna.

But just weeks after Bombay Bicycle Club and Gilmour left the building the bulldozers went in, eventually reducing the Art Moderne landmark to an enormous pile of rubble.

The rubble has gone but a decade on, the site remains largely unchanged, a windswept 44-acre expanse of digger-ready real estate.

It is the biggest cleared site in central London, yet not a single permanent structure has been built there. It is likely to be another two years, even if the planning process goes smoothly, before work begins in earnest, and the early 2040s before it is fully completed.