The planned Park Place development was thrown into further chaos after John Lewis said rumours it was coming to Croydon are pure speculation.

On developer Minerva’s own website describing the Park Place development, John Lewis is mentioned as a crucial part of the proposed £500m scheme.

The page describing the development says: “A key component of the retail space is the provision of a new full range department store. John Lewis has previously confirmed a requirement for 240,000 sq ft for Croydon and a regional store of this size can only be accommodated on the Park Place site.”

However a John Lewis spokeswoman said: “It is well known that John Lewis is interested in opportunities to open new shops in good catchments. However, we have nothing to report on speculation linking us with Croydon.”

The Park Place development has been dogged by set backs and delays. In April last year, Minerva ended an agreement with partner Lend Lease who were set to buy a 50 per cent stake in the scheme.

The company had been brought in to lure John Lewis to the site.

At the time, the news caused their share price to fall 7.5 per cent to 113.25p. It now stands at 22.50p per share.

Since last year, the company have been in talks with potential partners and have also been drawing up revised plans for the development.

In the meantime, the site is becoming increasingly derelict with remaining shop owners in St George’s Walk hanging on in the vague hope that the compensation offers for their businesses will materialise from Minerva.

Work on the new development was meant to start at the beginning of last year with an expected completion date in 2012.

A council spokeswoman said that the revised plans for the Park Place development are due to come out in spring this year.

The new scheme is expected to be retail led, but is likely to include some residential units.

It is also likely to be more street facing scheme rather than a completely covered mall.

She said: “The retail offer will include more up-market stores to complement John Lewis as the proposed anchor store.

“The bus garage included in the original scheme will no longer be part of the emerging scheme which will allow for the pedestrianisation of this part of Katharine Street.

“If achieved, this would greatly improve the public realm in this area and provide better connectivity to the Town Hall and Clocktower complex.”

A spokesman for Minerva refused to comment on whether or not John Lewis would be their anchor tenant and said that the company was still in talks with potential new partners.

He said: “Nowhere has John Lewis been confirmed as an occupant.”