The Serious Fraud Office has charged five men, including two solicitors, with offences including fraud, forgery, and the destruction of documents, following the collapse of the law firm Axiom Ince, which had offices in Leeds, and alleged improper use of more than £60 million of client money.
The firm’s CEO and director Pragnesh Modhwadia is charged alongside co-director Shyam Mistry and Chief Financial Officer Muhammad Ali with two counts of fraud by abuse of position. They are alleged to have misused client funds and exposed thousands of the firm’s clients to losses.
Modhwadia and Mistry are also charged, alongside the firm’s Chief Technology Officer Rupesh Karawadra and Vice President of IT Jayesh Anjaria, with conspiring to conceal, destroy or dispose of documents relevant to a Solicitors Regulation Authority investigation into the firm. All five are also charged with conspiring to mislead the SRA using false documents.
Axiom Ince was closed by the SRA in October 2023. At the time, the group also had offices across the country, including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, London, and Manchester.
Nick Ephgrave, Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said: “The collapse of Axiom Ince left thousands of clients exposed to significant losses and hundreds of people out of a job. The SFO set out to identify and bring those responsible to justice, and today’s charging is a significant milestone in achieving that.
“I pledged at the start of my tenure to speed up case progression at the SFO and with this investigation, opened only 15 months ago, we have conducted a thorough and targeted investigation in record time to bring these charges today.”
All defendants are expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 15th January to answer the charges against them.
The creation of a flagship new sustainable community in the heart of Bradford took a major step forward this week as Bradford Council and ECF (the partnership between Homes England, Legal & General and Muse) entered into a Development Agreement to kick-start the first phase of Bradford City Village.
The City Village, which aims to completely transform Bradford city centre, is set to be one of the first examples of devolution in action – delivered thanks to a collaborative partnership between Bradford Council, ECF, Homes England and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA).
This ambitious regeneration opportunity will create up to 1,000 new homes (including affordable homes), three new community parks and public spaces, along with shops, cafes, restaurants, and offices designed to meet the needs of future generations.
Bradford City Village aims to create a sustainable community where people can live within walking distance of amenities, shops, parks, work and school. It will integrate an array of strategies to promote walking, cycling and other forms of sustainable transport.
Credit: 5Plus Architects
Bradford Council Leader Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe said: “This is an exciting step forward in our vision to create a healthy, sustainable and friendly neighbourhood. City Village is a transformative regeneration programme which will re-define the city centre.
“Whilst housing is at the heart of these plans, City Village will also create opportunities for new independent retail, cafes, bars and business spaces in a city that in 2025 will become the UK’s number one cultural destination.
“It shows the direction of Bradford for the next ten years – quality housing, more public and green spaces with a strong cultural offer, creating the quality of city centre living that our residents need and deserve.
“We’re delighted to be moving forward on City Village, as part of a much bigger picture of regeneration across Bradford with current programmes like One City Park complete, and the pedestrianisation works due to finish soon.”
This significant milestone comes hot on the heels of the launch of the Government’s Devolution White Paper earlier this week – which it claims is “a key way to kickstart economic growth.”
Bradford City Village is one of fifteen places identified in the Strategic Place Partnership between the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and Homes England – announced last year – which aims to unlock ambitious, complex residential regeneration schemes and boost the delivery of thousands more homes.
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “Thanks to partnership working and the power of devolution, we’re unlocking millions of pounds of investment to regenerate communities, raise living standards, build more homes and grow our economy. Bradford City Village will be a gamechanger for West Yorkshire as we work to build a stronger, brighter region.”
Credit: 5Plus Architects
With the crucial Development Agreement now in place, ECF will work in partnership with the Council to progress a planning application expected to be submitted in spring 2025, following a second phase of public consultation.
Sir Michael Lyons, Chair of ECF, said: “City Village is Bradford’s most ambitious regeneration project in generations. We’re excited to continue to work with the Council, Homes England and West Yorkshire Combined Authority to help Bradford realise its full potential, transforming the city centre into a safe, sustainable and inclusive place where people will want to live, as well as work and visit.”
Bradford City Village is an important part of a transformational programme of enhancements in the district, including the £23m Darley Street Market development and highway and public realm infrastructure improvements as part of the Bradford City Centre Walking and Cycling Improvements scheme.
The wider project team for Bradford City Village includes 5plus Architects, re-form Landscape Architecture, Avison Young, Cushman & Wakefield and Turner & Townsend.
A new marketing campaign for North Yorkshire next year will highlight the location used for film and television backdrops for productions including the last Indiana Jones movie and Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible franchise.
Visit North Yorkshire intends to highlight a wide range of locations that have been used in, inspired or have connections to movie blockbusters and hit TV shows.
More than £4 billion is brought into North Yorkshire’s economy each year through tourism and the industry supports 38,500 jobs, and the opportunity of promoting North Yorkshire’s connections to locations linked to film, television and literature has been highlighted as a way of boosting the county’s multi-billion pound tourism sector.
The All Creatures Great and Small series has been drawing visitors to the county for years, whilst more recently Fountains Abbey and Plumpton Rocks landscape gardens were used as locations for the Netflix fantasy drama series The Witcher.
The CEO of Screen Yorkshire, Caroline Cooper Charles, said: “At Screen Yorkshire, our mission is to attract high-quality film and TV productions to the region, showcasing Yorkshire’s diverse landscapes and historic locations.
“The impact of these productions creates a ripple effect from increased visitor numbers to filming locations, boosting tourism revenue, to job creation across hospitality, retail, and the arts.
“Screen Tourism offers a unique opportunity to showcase Yorkshire to the world while directly contributing to the region’s economy and cultural pride. It’s a powerful example of how the creative industries can drive meaningful growth and deliver lasting value to our region.”
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for open to business, Cllr Mark Crane, said: “Tourism is among the most important areas of North Yorkshire’s economy, and we are committed to ensuring we can boost the sector.
“So many people are fascinated by the locations which have been used in leading television and film productions, and are keen to see these places firsthand.
“The chance to highlight our links to film and TV is a prime example of how we can expand the market for visitors, and thereby benefit our tourism businesses and the wider local economy.”
The new campaign, called Starring North Yorkshire, will complement Visit England’s own international marketing drive, Starring Great Britain. It will see the locations used for film and television promoted via Visit North Yorkshire’s social media channels and an itinerary is being drawn up that will be available on the tourism organisation’s new website, which is due to launch in the spring.
It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead. It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.Here we speak to Graham Edward, Managing Director at Edward Architects.
Edward Architects has experienced a healthy workload in 2024 and has enjoyed continued growth including the opening of a new Leeds studio. This was despite a lull over the summer as the property sector awaited the outcome of the General Election and an understanding of how this affected Planning Policy.
We are finding that our residential workload remains strong particularly on Partnership schemes where housebuilders are working with Housing Associations to deliver unit numbers. We see this continuing through 2025 though developers are feeling the pinch as BNG implications and a very slow planning system are harming returns and delivery.
Industrial demand appears to have peaked, but remains healthy. We are also working on the refurbishment of Industrial stock which will be coming onto the market in 2025 adding to the offer available to end users.
Strategic land remains a solid workload for us as these clients take the long term view.
For the Government to achieve its housing target and deliver growth in Construction in 2025, my one big tip is to fund Local Authority planning sufficiently to bring in a ‘mini army’ of experienced planners from the private sector to speed up decisions. The Government should also avoid adding any more red tape or layers of decision making as the planning timescales are directly maiming many SME housebuilders and is deterring property investment.
The current mix of a strong Government, delivery of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPFF) and UK interest rates creeping downwards can only add confidence to the property investment market for 2025. So, in summary, we are more positive about the prospects of 2025 versus 2024 as the market becomes more settled and investable.
At Edward Architects we are excited to face the challenges that 2025 is going to throw at us head on and will spread our specialisms of residential, strategic land and accessible design into new client bases. We are ready for the next phase of continued growth.
Day-to-day running of the 1852 Wing business centre at the multi-million pound Treadmills site, which is council-owned and currently run by C4DI Northallerton, will be transferred to the authority from April next year.
The former main cell block and female wing were transformed into a centre for digital innovation in 2020, after being derelict since the closure of Northallerton Prison more than a decade ago.
It formed part of a wider redevelopment of the site which saw all four listed buildings preserved and brought back into economic use – boosting the local economy while protecting Northallerton’s heritage.
Ten individual businesses currently occupy the C4DI Northallerton office space. C4DI and the council are liaising with tenants to ensure they face no disruption as part of the handover.
The council’s executive member for open to business is Mark Crane. He said: “C4DI has been a crucial part of the Treadmills redevelopment that has helped revitalise the local economy and foster business innovation.
“The 1852 Wing offers fantastic modern office spaces, meeting rooms and a collaborative environment for start-up and established businesses to thrive. We’re excited to build on the work of C4DI by taking on the day-to-day running of the building.
“We are proud of the fantastic relationship we enjoy with the businesses already situated in 1852 Wing and are excited to have the opportunity to further develop these, as well as inspire further investment at the site, as we move forward over the coming months.”
C4DI MD John Connolly added: “The new combined authority brings with it an increased scale of support for businesses across the region, as well as an excellent operational team to support the facility which will accelerate the growth of businesses based in and around Treadmills.
“We look forward to working with North Yorkshire Council as we continue to help businesses with events, mentoring, corporate innovation programmed and support for both start-ups and scale-ups.”
The owner of an historic building on Lower Kirkgate in Leeds has been given 28 days to make it safe.
The dangerous state of the building, owned by City Fusion, has caused the road to be closed, but now the city council has been given permission to issue an urgent works notice covering that and five other historic properties on the same street which are at risk of collapse or further serious deterioration.
City Fusion has 28 days from the serving of the notice to begin a programme of structural work to make the buildings safe. If it doesn’t, the council can carry out the work before seeking to recover the cost of doing so from the owner.
The serving of the notice comes as the council explores the possibility of buying a number of the historic properties owned by City Fusion on Lower Kirkgate. Should these proposed market-value acquisitions go ahead, the council intends to bring the currently-derelict buildings back into beneficial use.
More than 30 trade associations have joined forces through an open letter to the Chancellor calling for a full and formal consultation on the proposed changes to inheritance tax.
Collectively, these associations represent more than 160,000 family businesses, who warn that the changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief announced in the Autumn Budget will have ‘a severe and long-lasting impact on these businesses and the livelihoods of the millions of people they employ’.
In the open letter, published by Family Business UK, leaders warned that the policy changes will ‘starve’ these businesses and the economy of much-needed investment, ‘leading to forced, premature business sales and the loss of jobs in constituencies across the country’.
They add that BPR and APR ‘are not loopholes’ but measures that exist to ‘allow profitable businesses to continue trading, without penalty, when the owner dies’.
Economic impact analysis commissioned by FBUK and produced by CBI Economics has revealed that between 2026/7 – 2029/30 the changes to BPR could reduce economic activity by £9.4bn, lead to more than 125,000 job losses – including among the SMEs the government is trying to support and protect – and result in a net fiscal loss to the Exchequer of £1.25bn.
The NFU’s own impact analysis, produced in consultation with former Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility economists, found that 75% of commercial family farms will be above the £1m threshold.
NFU President Tom Bradshaw said the Family Business UK letter further showed just how poorly thought through the inheritance tax changes were. He said: “As a signatory of the letter, alongside 31 other trade organisations representing the industry and associated businesses, we strongly echo the sentiment that the proposed tax could have far reaching consequences for the broader economy, employment and public finances.
“No one thinks this is a good policy, not even the government’s own advisers. It’s time for Treasury to listen to farmers and the multiple other organisations calling for these proposals to be opened up for consultation.”
CEO of Family Business UK Neil Davy said: “The model of family business ownership is unique. It powers the entire economy from farming to finance and everything in between. This letter, and those who have chosen to sign it, are testament to just how widespread family ownership is, and how committed we are to speak up on behalf of our members.
“Already, family business owners are taking decisions to withhold planned investments and are putting recruitment on hold.”
According to CBI Economics, family businesses mitigating the cost of a potential future Inheritance Tax bill would be most likely to reduce investment and employment leading to an:
Ideal Heating COO Jason Speedy has been appointed as the first chair of the recently-formed Hull and East Yorkshire Business Board.
He is taking on the leading role as a figurehead of the Board supporting and advising the development of the economic priorities of the new Hull and East Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
Made up of of 22 influential business leaders from across the region, alongside the two local councils, the Board is providing input into strategic decision making, including the delivery of a £400 million investment fund secured as part of the devolution deal with the Government.
Jason joined Ideal Heating as COO in November 2019, and previously spent over 20 years with Siemens.
He said: “The Business Board was created to bring together private and public sector leaders, to help shape the region’s economic growth strategy and ensure we have a single, clear voice representing our diverse business community and advising the new Combined Mayoral Authority.
“I’m honoured to have been appointed chair of the HEY Business Board, at a hugely significant time for our region.
“Devolution represents a transformational opportunity to unlock major inward investment and growth in areas such as employment, skills and innovation.
“As a leading business and large employer rooted in Hull and East Yorkshire, we at Ideal Heating are committed to playing our full part in forging a prosperous future for the region and unlocking all of the exciting opportunities offered by devolution.”
The Business Board is one of two recently formed strategic groups providing support to the new governance structures of the Hull and East Yorkshire region, alongside a Skills Board.
The forst elecrtinos to the new authority will take place on May 1st next year.
Yorkshire Building Society is installing solar panels in the car park of its Bradford HQ to support its target of reaching Net Zero in its estate by 2035 and saving at least £100,000 every year.
It’s using space in its car park at Yorkshire Drive on Rooley Lane to install solar carports, ground-mounted canopies with slightly angled roofs that are ideal for solar panels. The shape of the carport will optimise the energy they generate while providing shelter for parked cars. The electricity generated will be used on site, helping the Society to reduce its carbon footprint.
The solar panel installations, which will complement existing rooftop solar panels installed in 2014, will help to reduce the need for electricity from the grid, which will cut down carbon emissions.
Alice Sweeting, Senior Manager, Environmental Sustainability for Yorkshire Building Society said: “In our mission to build a greener society, reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and reach Net Zero in our property estate by 2035, we’re installing solar carports in two of our car parks at Yorkshire Drive.
“As well as providing useful sheltered parking for colleagues, the carports will provide a space-efficient way to generate our own energy which will complement the renewable energy we already source through the National Grid.
“This is one of a number of retrofit activities we have undertaken, underway or planned for our estate that will support our journey towards Net Zero in our property estate.” The installation was supported by Energy Efficient Solutions Group.
Kiveton near Rotherham has been chosen as the trial site to trial a new low carbon homes project partnership involving British Gas, Strata, and heat pump manufacturer, Daikin.
In anticipation of The Future Homes Standard, customers will move into new build homes fitted with a full range of the latest low-carbon technology at no extra cost to the housebuilder or owner. The homes will be equipped with a 6-8 kWh air source heat pump, 4 kWh solar panels, 5 kWh battery storage, Hive electric vehicle charger and thermostat.
The first trial phase will launch at a Strata’s “Breathe” development site in Kiveton, Rotherham. As a thank you for participating in the pilot, British Gas is giving homeowners access to a fixed rate tailored British Gas tariff.
Each home will be fitted with a Hive hub, which connects to the WIFI network and acts as the home’s operating system, integrating all the sustainable technology. The customers energy and heat schedules and budget will be optimised by the Hive Hub for further savings.
When the customer connects to Hive’s app they will be able to control and maximise efficiency by setting schedules and spending budgets and allowing the Hub to help them reduce their bills.
Catherine O’Kelly, Managing Director at British Gas Energy, said: “We are delighted to have worked with Strata to create a new homes proposition that is not only sustainable, but scalable. Through this partnership, we are empowering homeowners with the latest green technology and providing them with more control and transparency over their energy usage.
“Our proposition will allow new build development sites to equip their properties with the very best low-carbon technology, meet new legislative requirements and deliver energy-efficient homes that are fit for the future. This is all part of our ambition to energise a greener, fairer future.”
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