When you have the title of council cabinet member for regeneration and economic development you have to be something of an optimist.

That is a quality shown in spades by Councillor Steve O'Connell in his latest bulletin produced for council members.

Some of it is well-placed – with moves to get the redevelopment of the Gateway site in East Croydon underway starting at last, for example.

But many people will feel his apparent confidence that developer Minerva will still pull its Park Place development – albeit in a revised form – out of the fire is stretching the limits of optimism.

In the present economic climate nobody is going to deny that Minerva is having its share of financial woe.

Its share price this week plummeted to 6.75p and its recent annual report revealed a half yearly loss of £186 million.

Cllr O'Connell still, however, shares Minerva's own confidence that it will find a new funding partner and Park Place will proceed.

He writes in his bulletin: "Negotiations with one potential partner are progressing well and a successful outcome will result in a new planning application to be submitted in the summer."

This, as Minerva has said before, will remain retail-led but will be minus the originally proposed bus station and allow for some housing and the pedestrianisation of Katharine Street.

It will also allow for, says Cllr O'Connell: "More upmarket stores to complement John Lewis as the proposed anchor store."

Cllr O'Connell does stray into the obvious by mentioning the delay in building Park Place "is having some adverse effects upon the area in terms of blight."

But he says it is important to ensure the right scheme is built for today and tomorrow's retail market.

In the meantime the council and Minerva will continue to work to breathe new life into the worst affected area, St George's Walk, until demolition of the shopping centre actually takes place.

In reality nothing is likely to fall into place easily and the hope must be that Cllr O'Connell's optimism is not misplaced.

The bottom line is that something must happen on the Park Place site, whether or not Minerva is involved.

The Insider cuts through the political spin every week in our column. Got a tip-off? E-mail

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