A PLANNED £100m expansion of Liverpool’s St John’s shopping centre has been axed by property owner Land Securities.

The UK’s biggest landlord blamed an oversupply of retail space in the city.

A resurgence in London’s property market has also moved the group’s investment focus away from the regions back to the capital. Land Securities said it anticipated a sharp rise in rental values in central London in the near term.

Chief executive Francis Salway revealed the news to abandon the St Johns expansion plan in the group’s annual results yesterday, which showed it turned a £4.77bn loss last year into a £1.07bn profit for the year to March 31.

Land Securities had gained planning permission for its plan to expand St John’s by more than 100,000sq ft in 2008, and was originally due to begin work on the two-year project this year.

But the credit crunch devastated the industry and its St John’s plans were delayed to 2012, with a 2014 finish date. However, James Larmuth, portfolio manager for St John’s and the neighbouring Clayton Square shopping centre, confirmed the project had now been discontinued, saying: “There is a local oversupply of retail and it would not be prudent of us to bring forward further space.”

He said the group was working on internal and external improvements for the centre, worth a “substantial amount”, which could be unveiled by the end of the year.