The plan to resurrect London's Crystal Palace is encountering delays, as talks between the Chinese Development group ZhongRong and Bromley Council have stalled. With a shortlist announced in February of six high-profile practices competing to design a project with "the spirit, scale and magnificence of the original" - including Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers, David Chipperfield and Nicholas Grimshaw - it was expected that a winner would be announced later this summer, with a scheme submitted for planning permission by the end of the year. However, all of these deadlines are now at risk thanks to the delays.
Read on after the break for details on what is causing the delay
The breakdown of the talks between the developers and the local council is being attributed to what one local politician describes as "a catch-22 situation." Tom Chance, a spokesperson of the Green Party in Crystal Palace, explained that "the council wants more detail on the plans before they sign off on the land deal, but the developer wants the land deal secured before they put more money into developing the plans."
He added that the plans by the Conservative-led Bromley Council were "really damaging", jeopardizing other plans to improve the park. A spokesperson for Bromley Council said simply that they could not comment on the situation.
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