PROPERTY giant Peel Holdings says its £500m plan for a huge shopping mall on the Costa de Sol is on track, although it is happy to wait for economic conditions to improve before driving ahead with the scheme.

Lindsey Ashworh, the director leading the Trafford Centre Espana development, said the market was `very difficult' at the moment, but Peel was committed to the project.

It already has planning permission for the 80-acre development to be built in Torremolinos.

He said: "Only a fool would start building something speculatively at this time, and we're not fools. We were awarded planning permission this year: we're now waiting to get a commercial licence before moving forward.

"I would expect to get that before Christmasand then we need to start sorting finance and anchor tenants out, which I'd imagine would take another 12 months.

"It's not a delay, it's just a stage of the process and, because of the market conditions,  it allows us to set our stall out. Retailers are not looking at signing up for anything at the moment, because of the consumer downturn.

"We're not immune from market forces."

Mr Ashworth said the difficult economic outlook meant `now was a a good time to have schemes in planning'.

"The market will come back - my view is not until the back end of next year - and we just have to ride it out until then. We have seen recessions before, every eight to 10 years, although this one is different in that the banks seem to be short of money, too.

"We'll come out of the other side, though. Times like these tend to shake out the weak and strengthen the strong, and Peel is a strong, dedicated company."

The Spansish scheme will be based on the outstanding success of Manchester's Trafford Centre, which attracts more than 30 million visitors a year.

The development, close to where Peel Holdings chairman John Whittaker has a holiday home, will offer around a million square feet  of retail, entertainment and leisure space, anchored by department stores and a cinema.

The scheme will also include a five-star hotel and, eventually, some luxury apartments.

Tweet