Wolverhampton City Council

Transcription

1 Agenda Item: 5O Wolverhampton City Council OPEN EXECUTIVE DECISION ITEM (AMBER) CABINET Date 11 APRIL 2012 Portfolio(s) Originating Service Group(s) ECONOMIC REGENERATION AND PROSPERITY COUNCILLOR PETER BILSON EDUCATION AND ENTERPRISE Contact Officer(s)/ KEVIN MOORE KENNY AITCHISON Telephone Number(s) KEY DECISION: IN FORWARD PLAN: YES YES Title ALL SAINTS REDEVELOPMENT COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDERS RECOMMENDATION i) That Wolverhampton City Council (Vicarage Road/Raby Street Alleyway) Compulsory Purchase Order 2012 and Wolverhampton City Council (Granville Street) Compulsory Purchase Order 2012 be made under Section 226 (1) (a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in respect of the acquisition of the interests in land, in the alleyway behind Vicarage Road and Raby Street, and at Granville Street, within the All Saints redevelopment area. ii) That the Interim Strategic Director for Education & Enterprise, the Interim Strategic Director for Delivery and the Assistant Director, Governance be authorised: a) To take all necessary steps as soon as is reasonably practical to secure the making, confirmation and implementation of the Orders, including the publication and service of all notices and the presentation of the Council s case at any public enquiry b) To acquire interests in land within the Orders, by making the Orders; iii) iv) That measures to be put in place to mitigate the Council s potential liabilities under the Orders be noted. That following confirmation of the Orders, General Vesting Declarations be made under the Compulsory Purchase (Vesting Declarations) Act 1981 in respect of any or all interests in the land included in the Orders. 1

2 ALL SAINTS REDEVELOPMENT COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 1. PURPOSE 1.1 To recommend Cabinet to make the Wolverhampton City Council (Vicarage Road/Raby Street Alleyway) Compulsory Purchase Order 2012 and the Wolverhampton City Council (Granville Street) Compulsory Purchase Order under Section 226 (1) (a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004) in respect of the land defined by the red boundary on the plans attached as Appendix 1 and Appendix BACKGROUND 2.1 On 14 July 2010, Cabinet authorised the making of a CPO to acquire interests in land at Raby Street and Vicarage Road as part of the All Saints (Vicarage Road/Raby Street) redevelopment proposals. However, all properties were acquired by agreement and the Order was never made. 2.2 The development proposals include part of the alleyway which runs behind properties in Vicarage Road and Raby Street. The ownership of the alleyway is uncertain but residents have access rights along it. The CPO boundary of the alleyway is shown in red, the remainder of the alleyway is outlined in blue, on the plan attached as Appendix 1 and a draft layout of the development proposals are attached as Appendix Legal advice received by the Council suggests that the Council will need to extinguish rights, where they run across land which is to be developed. However, it is not considered there will be any diminution of the value of the properties which enjoy rights of access over the alleyway; any claims for compensation for permanent interference with these rights are not expected, as residents with the benefit of these rights will continue to use the section of the alleyway included in the CPO following the redevelopment. 2.4 The development proposals build over part of the northern end of the alleyway and create a turning head within the alleyway, allowing all residents who currently have access through the alleyway to be able to continue to use it, albeit no longer as a through route. All rights over the northern end will be extinguished by the Order and alternative rights granted with the construction of the turning head. 2.5 Within the Granville Street area of the redevelopment, there are issues in relation to land ownership that need resolving to enable the complete redevelopment of this area. The area that is required in outlined in red in Appendix 2. The development proposals stop up sections of Granville Street and build over them. These areas will also require to be compulsory purchased by the City Council in order to register the Title. 3. EXERCISING COMPULSORY PURCHASE POWERS 3.1 The Council has the power under Section 226(1) (a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004) to make a Compulsory Purchase Order for any land in their area if the Council think that the purchase of the land will facilitate the carrying out of the development, redevelopment or improvement on or in relation to the land. 2

3 3.2 The Council may not exercise the power under Section 226(1) (a) unless they think that the development, redevelopment or improvement is likely to contribute to the achievement of the promotion or improvement of the economic, social or environmental well-being of the area. 3.3 ODPM Circular 06/2004 (Compulsory Purchase and the Crichel Down Rules) provides guidance to acquiring authorities on the use of compulsory purchase powers. In relation to orders made under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Appendix A of the Circular states: The powers in Section 226 as amended by Section 99 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 are intended to provide a positive tool to help acquiring authorities with their planning powers to assemble land where this is necessary to implement the proposals in their community strategies and Local Development Documents. These powers are expressed in wide terms and can, therefore, be used by such authorities to assemble land for regeneration and other schemes where the range of activities or purposes proposed means that no other single specific compulsory purchase power would be appropriate. 3.4 Importantly, the Circular requires that a Compulsory Purchase Order should only be made where there is a compelling case in the public interest. 3.5 The circular provides that any decision by the Secretary of State about whether to confirm an order under Section 226 will be made on its own merit and the factors which the Secretary of State can be expected to consider include:- (a) whether the purpose for which the land is being acquired fits in with the adopted planning framework for the area; (b) the extent to which the proposed purpose will contribute to the achievement of the promotion or improvement of the economic, social or environmental well-being of the area; (c) the potential financial viability of the scheme for which the land is being acquired; and (d) whether the purpose for which the acquiring authority is proposing to acquire the land could be achieved by other means, e.g. alternative proposals put forward by the owners of the land. 3.6 The Circular also requires the Council to have regard to other factors including whether the scheme is likely to be blocked by planning or other impediments to implementation and the degree to which other parties (including the private sector) have agreed to make financial contributions or to underwrite the scheme. 3.7 In addition, the Circular requires authorities to be sure that the purpose for which it is making a Compulsory Purchase Order sufficiently justifies interfering with the human rights of those with an interest in the land affected, having regard in particular to the provisions of Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights and, in the case of a dwelling, Article 8 of the Convention. In this respect, Article 1 protects the rights of everyone to the peaceful enjoyment of possessions, so that no-one can be deprived of them except in the public interest and subject to the relevant nationals and international laws, and Article 8 protects private and family life, home, and correspondence so that no public authority can interfere with these rights except if it is in accordance with the law and is necessary in the interest of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country. 3

4 3.8 The proposals for redevelopment have been produced after extensive engagement with the local community from the beginning. With regards to the Vicarage Road Raby Street site, the alleyway has always been viewed as a problem by the local community, and although the proposals only address part of the alleyway, the community is broadly supportive of them. Inclusion of this part of the alleyway within the development enhances the overall development proposals. 3.9 It is intended that the development proposals will significantly improve the social, economic and environmental well-being of the area by overcoming the problems in the area and creating an attractive environment where people will want to live in good quality housing, with significantly improved living conditions, more housing choice, with improved safety and security and enhanced quality of public realm The Council have obtained advice as to the likely overall liability which could arise if the Compulsory Purchase Orders are confirmed and implemented and has identified funds within the Council which are considered adequate to meet this liability. The Council has provisionally appointed Keepmoat Homes Ltd as its development partner A full Planning Application was submitted by Keepmoat on 27 February 2012 and a further report was presented to Cabinet (Resources) Panel on 3 April 2012 to seek authorisation to enter into a conditional Development Agreement with Keepmoat. This report also sets out the current financial viability of the development. However, the emphasis on this project is to secure a quality development and it will not be necessary to rely on developer contributions to ensure the scheme can proceed. Officers are satisfied, however, that there are no financial impediments to the CPO going ahead and there is a reasonable prospect that the development will be carried out if the Compulsory Purchase Orders are made and confirmed The Project Team consider that the acquisition of the alleyway, the extinguishing of access rights along it and the registration of Title for former highways land, are necessary in the interest of the regeneration of the area and, having regard to all of the relevant statutory and advisory criteria set out above, recommend that Compulsory Purchase Orders be made for this purpose. In this respect, the team consider that there is a compelling case in the public interest for the exercise of compulsory purchase powers and that this would be proportionate and justified in the circumstances having regard to the human rights of individuals with an interest in the properties affected. 4. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS 4.1 It is not known if there will be any claims for compensation resulting from the making of the Compulsory Purchase Orders, and if there were, what the level of any such claims would be. Therefore, in order to be prudent an estimate of 0.100M has been set aside in the budget. An estimate of 0.038M has also been set aside for fees associated with completing the Compulsory Purchase Orders. This level of expenditure can be met from the budget for All Saints held as part of the Housing Capital Programme which was approved by Council on 1 March [SH/ /J] 5 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS 5.1 The Council is empowered to promote Compulsory Purchase Orders by virtue of Section 226(1) (a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended by Part 8 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, Section 13 of the Local Government 4

5 Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 and by the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, as amended. 5.2 In order to make a Compulsory Purchase Order and to submit it for confirmation, it is necessary to identify a power under which the Order can be made. As the land in question is in need of regeneration, the Order will be made under Section 226 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 which authorises acquisition of land to facilitate development, redevelopment or improvement of land. 5.3 It should be noted that the procedure for obtaining a confirmed Compulsory Purchase Order is lengthy and requires much supporting documentation, such as a Statement of Reasons, certificates in support, and for a personal notice of the making of the Order to be served on all interested parties. It will be appreciated that until a Compulsory Purchase Order is confirmed, the land cannot be compulsorily purchased and consequently no liability incurred to pay compensation. There may be a risk that a blight notice may be served, but the Council has the financial resources to meet this cost (see paragraph 4 above). 5.4 Once the necessary documentation is prepared and the Order made this will be submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation. 5.5 The Council may confirm an unopposed Compulsory Purchase Order but if an objection is made and not withdrawn the Secretary of State will call for a public inquiry to be held, which lengthens the process for obtaining the Order.. If any objection is withdrawn or if there are no objections the Order may be confirmed by the Secretary of State or the Local Authority where appropriate. The process of acquiring the properties can then begin. 5.6 The remaining legal implications in connection with making a CPO are fully referenced elsewhere in this report. [RB/ /Y] 6. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IMPLICATIONS 6.1 This report has implications for the Council s Equal Opportunities as it deals with redevelopment of a major investment site in an area of relatively high levels of deprivation. The proposals will provide a high quality development and increase the availability of affordable housing for a diverse community. 7. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS 7.1 The report has implications for the Council s Environmental Policies in that it will enable bring forward the redevelopment of brownfield sites necessary to regenerate a location blighted by social and economic deprivation. The high quality development will be built to Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, therefore reducing carbon emissions 8. SCHEDULE OF BACKGROUND PAPERS ALL SAINTS VICARAGE ROAD/RABY STREET COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER Cabinet 15 July 2009 Agenda Item 4C ALL SAINTS VICARAGE ROAD/RABY STREET COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER Cabinet 15 July 2009 Agenda Item 7A 5

6 ALL SAINTS VICARAGE ROAD/RABY STREET COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER Cabinet 14 July 2010 Agenda Item 8G ABCD VICARAGE ROAD/RABYSTREET SELECTION OF PREFERRED DEVELOPER Cabinet (Resources) Panel 8 February 2011 Agenda Item 8D 6

7 Ward Bdy El Sub Sta a Vicarage Road/Raby Street Alleyway CPO - Appendix 1 Garage RABY STREET Works Builder's Yard Cleveland House to 63 Works a 28 GORDON STREET Depot 159.1m 73 LB LEVER STREET 79 Boro Const Bdy 68a 68b 70 BM m DARTMOUTH STREET PH 56 GRANVILLE CLOSE DARTMOUTH STREET 158.2m 157.3m GRANVILLE STREET RABY STREET HOWARD STREET Ward Bdy Def 160.0m Key Boro Const Bdy Bradburn and Wedge Building MAXWELL ROAD CPO Retained Alleyway Boro Const Bdy This map is reproduced from Ordnance Survey material 160.3m with the permission of Ordnance Survey infringes Police Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings Station CR El Sub Sta on behalf of Her Majesty s Stationery Office Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction ALL SAINTS ROAD m Scale1:1, Housing Office 156.1m This map was produced 29th March For more information regarding Copyright issues, contact the Council's "Asset Management Group" on VICARAGE RO

8 a El Sub Sta GOWER STREET Granville Street CPO - Appendix 2 LHOUSE LANE Garage Car Park 152.1m JENNER STREET BM m Works GORDON STREET 151.5m El Sub Sta DARTMOUTH STREET GRANVILLE STREET GRANVILLE STREET ADELAIDE WALK Playground Playground Housing Office GOWER STREET Games C m ALL SAINTS' ROAD 153.0m Boro 239 BM m Crown copyright and database rights 2012 Ordnance Survey Granville Street CPO.mxd_GS 1:1,250 The Works and All Sai

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