Longbridge landowner St Modwen says it expects the remains of MG Rover to be broken up by administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Company chairman Anthony Glossop said he would go for a "Merry Hill" on the site if he could get away with it, but did not expect a major retail operation would be allowed and had no intention of fighting the authorities on the issue.

But, speaking at a property dinner organised by the Birmingham office of accountants Deloitte, Mr Glossop was scathing about the Government ' s approach to regeneration.

Asked by The Birmingham Post whether he had got a good deal when St Modwen paid £42.5 million for 403 acres of the 460-acre site on a sale and lease back basis in January 2004, more than a year before MG Rover's collapse, he said it had been bought at a fair market value, less the cost of clearing the site.

"We will only know that in ten years time," he asserted. "We went into it with our eyes open.

"If we are right we have bought a development site at a fair price. If we are wrong then it is our problem."

The site is complex because it is split between two council planning authorities - Birmingham and Bromsgrove - and its development will depend on road improvements including implications for the M5 and M42.

Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands and possibly the West Midlands Regional Assembly are also set to have a major say.

Mr Glossop reiterated that he believed most of the site would be retained for employment, but mixed use including housing was imperative.

He denied any intention to "put a huge retail scheme out there to attack Northfield or anyone else down the road".

Though Tesco had made known its interest, there was no plan for a major retail operation, said Mr Glossop, but neither would he turn down a Merry Hill if it was offered.

He is confident that in five to ten years there will be 5,000-plus jobs on the complex, as many as MG Rover latterly employed, and he would be "disappointed" if the figure was not 10,000.

Mr Glossop said currently the state of play was "limbo".

The administrators were in control and that would remain the situation "until a statement that there is no future and there has to be a break up". He added: "I think that will happen."

Many former owners had tried to make Longbridge work as a car company including the Government, British Aerospace and BMW, but its problems went right back to the merger of BMC with Leyland.

The MG Rover failure was simply "the final coup de grace".

Mr Glossop condemned all political parties for failing to understand the regeneration issue.

He said: "The Government is absolutely committed to regeneration but I don't think they have a clue how to bring regeneration about."