THE owner of Bournemouth Airport and the founders of a leading retirement developer are among the local names on an annual list of the UK’s wealthiest people.
The Sunday Times Rich List found that despite the pandemic, Britain had a record 171 billionaires – 24 more than in 2020.
Ineos chief executive Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Petrochemicals boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe – whose Ineos group has its registered office in Lyndhurst – saw his fortune plunge by £5.8billion to £6.33bn. He dropped 20 places to number 25 in the list.
The list’s authors say his fortune has dropped by more than two-thirds in three years.
Sir Jim, who previously lived at Beaulieu, quit the UK for Monaco in 2019 after receiving his knighthood.
Richest people in Dorset and New Forest on 2020 Sunday Times list
Last year, he announced plans to build a new Land Rover-style vehicle, Grenadier, in France. He owns the Swiss football team Lausanne and the French Ligue 1 football team Nice and bankrolls the British cycling ream formerly known as Team Sky.
Fellow Ineos directors Andy Currie and John Reece are at numbers 74 and 75 on the list respectively, down from joint 30th last year. Each one’s wealth is estimated at £2.2bn, down £1.88bn in Mr Currie’s case and £1.9bn for Mr Reece.
Ian and Richard Livingstone, whose company London and Regional properties owns New Milton’s five-star Chewton Glen Hotel, have risen from number 36 to 27 on the Rich List, with their fortune growing by £2.2bn to £6.1bn.
Rigby Group chairman Sir Peter Rigby
Sir Peter Rigby, whose company the Rigby Group owns Bournemouth Airport, is at number 209 on the list with his sons James and Steve Rigby. They slipped down from number 183, but their fortune rose £5m to £775m.
Sir Peter chairs the Rigby Group, with his sons James and Steve as co-chief executives. The group – which owns the Hurn site through its subsidiary Regional and City Airports – is involved in computers, aviation and hotels.
Bournemouth Airport sold for undisclosed sum to Regional and City Airports
The family who founded two of Britain’s leading retirement developers are at number 230.
Brother Spencer McCarthy (centre) and Clinton McCarthy (right) pick up third place award at Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work For 2020
Brothers Clinton and Spencer McCarthy set up Ringwood-based Churchill Retirement Living, while their father John previously co-founded Bournemouth-based McCarthy Stone.
The McCarthys were at number 209 on last year’s list but their estimated fortune is unchanged at £681m.
This year’s Sunday Times Rich List runs to only 250 names, instead of the 1,000 in previous years.
The cull means there is no mention of many local names who made the longer list in previous years.
Among those missing from the shortened list are: James Benamor, the founder of Bournemouth’s Amigo Loans, who was at one point said to be the richest person in Dorset; Charlotte Townshend, the owner of the Ilchester estate including Abbotsbury Swannery; the Marquess of Salisbury, who owns Cranborne Manor; Mark and Mo Constantine, co-founders of Lush; Tom Singh, founder of Weymouth-based New Look; tech entrepreneur Jonathan Reeves; former banker Michael Sherwood; ex-racing car driver turned lighting company boss Rupert Martin; the Woodhouse family, behind the Hall & Woodhouse brewery; Haskins Garden Centres chairman Warren Haskins; and landowner George Meyrick.
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