A Chinese billionaire’s dream of rebuilding the famous Crystal Palace lives on – despite Bromley Council pulling out of talks about the £500m project.

Ni Zhaoxing, chairman of developers ZhongRong Group, unveiled his ambitious plan to regenerate the park and reconstruct the iconic building, along with renovating the historic Italian terraces, the underpass, the dinosaur trail and maze, back in October 2013.

The developer was granted a 16-month exclusivity agreement with Bromley Council to work on the proposal, but this expired last month.

And, following a six-month extension to the agreement was mooted if certain conditions were met, the council has written to ZhongRong informing them there is no “realistic prospect” of an agreement.

Bromley Council leader Coun Stephen Carr said: “There is a major opportunity here to do something that might really improve the park and provide much needed regeneration.

“This was why we were prepared to properly listen to what ZhongRong had to say, but we were never going to say yes to absolutely anything as we need to get this right.

“Now, we will meet with community stakeholders as we have done all the way along to review options going forward.

“Importantly too, we are continuing to progress plans to improve Crystal Palace Park with an investment in excess of £2m.”

A ZhongRong spokesman said it is still interested in Crystal Palace.

He said: “We are obviously disappointed we are yet to reach agreement with Bromley Council about the Crystal Palace rebuild plan. In particular, at the expiry of 16 months exclusivity agreement, the extent of the demise and leasehold arrangement are still outstanding, which we found critical and necessary for the whole development.

“We are open and keen to work with Bromley Council to sort out the critical issues, and also welcome other alternatives or proposals if no further consensus with the council.

“We have a dream to restore Crystal Palace’s former glory.”