REGENERATION PLANS IN CHAOS

Fears over future upgrading of the renowned Paisley shopping mall

- EDEL KENEALY

The multi-million pound regeneration of the Paisley Centre has been plunged into chaos amid a war of words between the developer and Renfrewshire Council.

Beyond Retail - which asked the local authority for support in getting its redevelopment off the ground - has threatened to pull the plug on the entire scheme and close the shopping mall if council chiefs do not rescind claims it is "commercially unviable".

It comes days after officers published a paper stating the council would not be progressing with plans to lease properties associated with the development.

Beyond Retail secured outline planning permission in 2022 to break up the Paisley Centre and redevelop it into a hotel, apartments, health centre and retail units.

In a hammer blow for the business consortium, the paper also reveals the project has not won any grant support from the Scottish or UK governments.

In the paper, which will be considered at Tuesday's meeting of the economy and regeneration board, the council said it recognised similar leasing models had been successful in other locations but questioned if it was the right fit for Paisley.

It read: "The viability dilemma is accentuated in towns such as Paisley where the achievable income from hotel accommodation or rental income for a residential apartment is significantly lower than that which could be achieved in, for instance, central Edinburgh or Glasgow City Centre.

"This means that although the capital development costs are similar, predicted income is much lower.

"This results in development proposals of this type in locations like Paisley being extremely marginal at best, and more often commercially unviable."

Beyond Retail had revealed in November 2023 that it would need public sector investment to bolster the £45 million it had ready to invest in the regeneration project.