A business group has questioned plans to put both Hammersmith and Fulham Broadway shopping centres up for sale.

The malls' owners, Northern Ireland-based William Ewart Properties, have put the centres, along with Victoria Place in Buckingham Palace Road, on the market for a combined price of £295m, having only bought them a year ago.

The developments have lead HammersmithLondon, which runs the town's business improvement district (BID), to warn such a quick sale could harm the future prosperity of the malls, which it believes are beset with a short-termist approach that is undermining their potential.

The BID's executive director Arun Sondhi said: "I am really surprised because they only bought the centres a short while ago. I have known for a while it wasn't going to be a long-term investment but didn't realise it would be sold this quickly.

"It seems we are getting into a cycle where the highest bidder goes in, has no strategic vision and moves on again.

"Quick sales are not conducive to maximising the potential of these centres."

Mr Sondhi says the mix of shops in both the 200,000 sq ft Fulham Broadway, which features outlets like Starbucks, Boots and Clinton Cards, and the 59,000 sq ft Hammersmith Broadway, which features, among others, McDonald's, Perfume Shop and the Disney Store, is not attractive for many passers-through, which include a high number of well-off workers from nearby multinational firms like Coca-Cola and Waterstone's.

He said: "The footfall at both centres is huge. There are £33million people alone passing through Hammersmith Broadway every year.

"A lot of these people are wealthy but there is simply not enough here to attract them. There seems to be a bit of a pound-shop mentality, which simply doesn't fit with the profile of a lot of these people.

"Some one needs to come in with a long-term strategy because I do not believe these quick-fire sales are going to address what is needed."