THE owner of the Trafford Centre is the north west's richest property millionaire and the seventh richest in the country.

John Whittaker has built a fortune worth '929m from his out-of-town shopping complex and the realty development company Peel Holdings, according to commercial property magazine Estates Gazette.

The 62-year-old developer, who also owns Liverpool's John Lennon Airport, is closely followed by reclusive leisure entrepreneur Trevor Hemmings, who bought Blackpool Tower in 1998 for '74m and plans to turn the resort's landmark into a themed hotel with six casinos.

Mr Hemmings, 68, started working towards his '700m fortune through Pontins holiday camps, and now owns Leisure Parcs, the TGH Group and Littlewoods Pools. He also has brewery and pub estates worth more than '250m, placing him in 11th place in the UK's nouveaux riches.

The Rich List revealed that the north west has the second highest concentration of people who have made money in real estate with nine in the top 100, runner-up only to the prosperous south east of England. The region's Top 10 tycoons have a combined portfolio of '2.9b.

Making his way up the list,with a family fortune of '130m, is Manchester property mogul Michael Oglesby. The 64-year-old has been converting derelict mills in the city since the 1970s and now owns 14 per cent of Manchester's city centre offices, placing him 71st in the overall list.

Richest woman

The richest woman in Manchester is Bolton-born Carol Ainscow, co-founder of Manto's on Canal Street, a stylish bar, who owns around '35m of property. A revaluation of her property has placed her at position 202.

She trails Susan Prescott of Ethel Austin Properties Holdings, the region's wealthiest woman, by '75m. The 52-year-old inherited the Liverpool company, which was established by her grandmother during the 1930s. The eighth richest person in the region with '110m, Susan is ranked 83rd in the country.

The nation's richest woman is the Hon Mary Czernin who inherited London's Marylebone High Street through her father's Howard de Walden Estates, estimated to be worth '1.3bn. The 69-year-old is Britain's fourth wealthiest property owner.

The list features 333 property-rich people in the UK and Ireland with net fortunes of more than '10m, and is topped by the Duke of Westminster who own '5.2bn of property in London and the south.

Peter Bill, editor of the Estates Gazette, said: "If you have money or want to make it, nothing beats real estate. The 333 entrants are worth '47bn - an average of '142m each. New money is quickly discovering that investing in bricks and mortar is hard to beat."

The rankings also revealed the region's top three property rich are way ahead of their competitors. In third place (28th overall) with a fortune worth '401m is Peter Jones, 69, a former joiner and builder from Cheshire who owns the Emerson Group and PE Jones Properties, as well as the Boavista golf club on the Algarve.

But lagging behind Mr Jones by more than '230m in fourth place is Alan Murphy, 55, who made his money in kitchen and toilet rolls at AM Paper and now owns Nikal Investments, which develops offices and apartment buildings. He sits just outside the national top 50 at number 59.

The youngest property millionaire is Nicholas Porter, 34, of Unite Group. His company, which is worth '30m, specialises in accommodation for students and nurses and places Mr Porter 220th in the list.

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