Three town centre regeneration projects are in doubt after the parent company of the developer behind them went into administration.

The brief to redevelop Haywards Heath’s town centre and railway station as well as the town centres of Burgess Hill in East Grinstead was drawn up by Mid Sussex District Council and put out to tender.

Developer Thornfield Properties was chosen by the council in 2004 to lead the Better Mid Sussex project after it submitted schemes for each town which the council said would best help the area.

However Thornfield Ventures Ltd (TVL), which owns Thornfield Properties, has gone into administration.

Thornfield Properties also runs Thornfield Properties (Mid Sussex) Ltd, which in turn owns seven Thornfield Properties Ltd companies formed specifically to carry out the regeneration projects in Mid Sussex.

None of these companies are yet formally insolvent but because TVL owns them all, administrator Deloitte will review them as assets of the insolvent firm.

Deloitte has instructed Hammersons, an experienced property company, to take on the management responsibilities for the well-advanced development schemes and to assess the viability of the less well-advanced schemes.

If it is decided that the schemes are not profitable they could be abandoned - leaving the council to have to find a new developer for the project.