Landowner blocks QPR's stadium goal

Tony Fernandes faces a formidable obstacle to his vision for a new stadium for Queen's Park Rangers, as the Malaysian entrepreneur set out plans to put his Premier League club at the heart of a 100-acre regeneration project.

Cargiant, a car retail company and the biggest landowner on the proposed west London site earmarked by Mr Fernandes, is refusing to give ground to the billionaire owner of Air Asia.

Advisers to Mr Fernandes, the QPR chairman whose consortium owns and runs the club, are drawing up plans for a 40,000-seater multipurpose stadium on a brownfield site known as Old Oak Common.

Launching public consultation of the project, QPR said its existing Loftus Road stadium, with a capacity of 18,000, would be redeveloped once the new stadium was completed.

Mr Fernandes said on the QPR website: "We are looking to deliver much more than just a stadium. We want to create a new destination that we propose to call 'New Queens Park'. It will serve as a catalyst for regeneration, creating thousands of new jobs and homes for local people."

Regeneration of Old Oak Common would involve retail, offices and leisure facilities and create 55,000 jobs and 24,000 homes, QPR said. The area would be served by a transport interchange for Crossrail and HS2.

QPR must first engage in land acquisition and begin discussions with Cargiant, which owns 45 acres, employs 700 staff and has been on the site for 30 years. Network Rail is also a landowner.

However, Tony Mendes, managing director of the car retailer, said those discussions had ended without agreement and he was moving ahead with his own redevelopment plan, which envisages 10,000 homes.

"They approached us, they were very bullish and aggressive," said Mr Mendes. He does not intend to engage with QPR again. "We are the landowners and we are not going to move."

Mark Donnelly, QPR's chief operating officer, said the club had begun buying some land but added the relocation of Cargiant was "a critical factor".

"We are not in active discussions with them at the moment. We would welcome the chance to talk to them in the future," said Mr Donnelly.

He added the plan would be funded by QPR's shareholders. Mr Fernandes' consortium consists of himself, long-term Air Asia business partner Kamarudin Meranun and Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, whose family is the biggest shareholder in Malaysian ports operator Westports Holdings.

Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian metals tycoon, is a minority shareholder in the club.

QPR's master plan is being drawn up by Farrells and Antony Spencer, who was instrumental in identifying land for Arsenal's new £430m stadium in north London.

"We envisage a new vibrant, mixed-use and high-quality development that will regenerate the area and turn this neglected but very well-connected area into a new world-class city quarter," Mr Spencer said.

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