Yes Project Update

Oak Holdings plc / Epic: OAH / Index: AIM / Sector: Property Development    

14 July 2006

                   Oak Holdings plc (`Oak' or `the Company')                   

                    YES! Project in South Yorkshire Update                     

Oak Holdings plc, the AIM listed property development and consultancy group,
has been informed that the Government Office for Yorkshire and Humber has
entrusted the local planning authority of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough
Council (`RMBC') with responsibility for the planning application for the
Company's YES! Project, a £270 million entertainment destination planned for
South Yorkshire. Prior to this, on 11 May, members of RMBC planning board voted
unanimously in favour of the project.

In correspondence with the RMBC, Government Office stated that `local planning
authorities are normally best placed to make decisions relating to their areas'
and that `having carefully considered the relevant planning issues raised by
this proposal, together with all the representations received, the Secretary of
State has concluded that her intervention would not be justified'.

Located on a 327 acre ex-coalfield site adjoining the Rother Valley Country
Park in Rotherham, the Company hopes to develop a state-of-the-art leisure and
entertainment resort. It has a number of Memorandum of Understanding's (`MOU')
already in place with leading entertainment, leisure and utility operators
including most recently an agreement with E.ON, the world's largest
investor-owned power and gas company.

Oak Holdings CEO Steve Lewis said: "This approval has come some months in
advance of our expectations and is a major step for us. It is very rare that
projects of this size are not called in for government consideration and thus
we are delighted that the Government has given RMBC the power to grant the YES!
project with planning permission, having already received confirmation of their
support earlier this year.

"Naturally there are still various hurdles to jump, including sourcing funding
and tennants, but we are nevertheless confident that construction at the site
could soon be underway, bringing significantly enhanced environmental benefits
to the area. The site, as it stands now, is contaminated and the proposed
development will offer a more natural habitat, allowing greater public access
through the expansion of jogging routes, footpaths and the cycle network."

Councillor Roger Stone, leader of RMBC, said: "The YES! Project will transform
this part of South Yorkshire and bring benefits not just to Rotherham and the
sub-region, but to the whole of Yorkshire & Humber. Those benefits will spread
far beyond the project itself, into local communities and local economies - and
the local environment. Added to everything else in South Yorkshire, including
Robin Hood Airport, the project will also make this area an even greater
leisure, tourism and sporting destination for people from the UK and beyond.
I'd like to thank our other three South Yorkshire councils for helping us bring
YES! to this stage. Now let's get on with the job of making it real!"

Adam Wilkinson, executive director of Rotherham's Economic & Development
Services, and who leads for the council on the project, said: "Just wonderful
news. The Secretary of State's decision confirms that the council and Oak
Holdings were right to have such faith in this project. It has taken us four
years of working in true partnership to get to this stage, but that's a
relatively short time for a one-million square foot development, the biggest of
its kind in Europe. Some people thought this was too ambitious a scheme, but
together we're showing we can bring it to reality."

                                    -ends-                                     

Contacts

Steve Lewis, CEO Oak Holdings plc Tel: [phone]

Isabel Crossley St Brides Media & Finance Ltd Tel: [phone]

Laura King Porterfield Public Relations Tel: [phone]

Notes for editors:

  * AIM-listed Oak Holdings plc is a development company and property
    consultancy.
   
  * Its strategic focus has been on developing mixed-use, leisure-oriented
    projects in addition to creating an income-producing property consultancy
    business.
   
  * The YES! project is the company's flagship scheme.
   
  * Oak's directors have extensive experience in property development and
    investment and are well known professionals in the property industry.