DIRECTORS behind plans for a 215-unit retirement village at Eglinton remain confident it will go ahead, even after the company went into receivership on Thursday.
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Crighton Group managing director Geoff Cox has blamed “constantly changing state planning regulations” and unsympathetic banks for the company’s financial difficulties.
He said the ANZ Bank had appointed Greg Hall of PriceWaterhouseCoopers as receiver for two of the companies in the group.
In response, Crighton appointed de Vries Tayeh Chartered Accountants as voluntary administrators to all of the other companies in the group, including Crighton Bathurst.
Concerns over the Eglinton development were first raised last year when Mr Cox wrote to all Bathurst councillors outlining the difficulties Crighton had faced in securing finance for the project, but he said “we look forward to commencing the development of our village at Eglinton as soon as possible”.
And even after Crighton Properties was placed in receivership on Thursday, Mr Crighton told the Western Advocate he was confident the project would go ahead.
“But it will take a company with deeper pockets than ours and a more sympathetic bank than ours,” he said.
“A national campaign to sell the company’s lifestyle resort business with sites also in Mudgee, Tea Gardens, Old Bar, Byron Bay and Laurieton commences the week after next.”
In announcing the move to receivership, Mr Cox took a swipe at state planning regulations that he said were crippling development in NSW.
“The difficulties that prompted these actions are not dissimilar to the difficulties faced by the development industry in NSW in general, in securing rezoning approvals in an environment where the constantly changing state planning regulations extend the approval process year after year,” he said.
“Add the right of veto vested with the ever-increasing number of ‘other government agencies’ [including NSW Office of Water, Roads and Maritime Services, Catchment Management Authority and Environment Protection Authority] it is no wonder many developers have simply moved interstate and have placed an effective black-ban on doing business in NSW.”
Mr Cox said Crighton was “determined to stay in the land development business, and in the process, meet its financial obligations”.
The $70 million Eglinton development was to be built on a 25-hectare site off Cox’s Lane.
When the Western Advocate first broke news of the plans in 2008, Mr Cox said the project would be rolled out in stages over eight years with 12-24 units built each year.
He said Crighton had selected Bathurst over Orange for the project due to the city’s reputation as a standout regional destination.