(Langworthy South West) Compulsory Purchase Order 2017
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CITY OF SALFORD (LANGWORTHY SOUTH WEST) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 2017 SALFORD CITY COUNCIL THE HOUSING ACT 1985 THE ACQUISITION OF LAND ACT 1981 CITY OF SALFORD (LANGWORTHY SOUTH WEST) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 2017 STATEMENT OF REASONS Page 1 CITY OF SALFORD (LANGWORTHY SOUTH WEST) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 2017 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 This document is the Statement of Reasons of Salford City Council (“the Council”) for making a compulsory purchase order (CPO) entitled the City of Salford (Langworthy South West) Compulsory Purchase Order 2017 (“the Order”) in respect of land for which the Council is the Acquiring Authority. The Order is made pursuant to section 17 of the Housing Act 1985. 1.2 This Statement of Reasons has been prepared in accordance with the guidance in the Guidance on compulsory purchase process and The Critchel Down Rules for the disposal of surplus land acquired by, or under threat of, compulsion 2015 (“the Guidance”). In this Statement of Reasons the land in the Order is referred to as “the Order Lands” and are shown coloured pink on the plan attached as Appendix 2. 2. Description of the Order Lands, location, topographical features, and present use 2.1 The Order Lands consist of four plots which are in third party ownership as detailed below: 2.1.1 The reversionary freehold interest in land previously the site of a former dwelling 1 Southern Street shown as plot 1 on the Order Lands plan and totalling approximately 0.007 hectares 2.1.2 The freehold interest in the former garden land to the rear of 32 Southern Street shown as plot 2 on the Order Lands plan and totalling approximately 0.01 hectares. 2.1.3 The freehold interest in former garden land to the rear of 20 Alexander Street shown as plot 3 on the Order Lands plan and totalling approximately 0.002 hectares. 2.1.4 The freehold interest in vacant land off Nansen Street as shown as shown as plot 4 on the Order Map and equalling approximately 0.04 hectares. 2.2 The Order Lands are situated in the Langworthy ward of Salford in a predominantly residential area approximately one mile from Media City and three miles from Manchester City Centre. They are included within two proposed development sites bounded by Greenland Street, Norway Street, Kara Street and Nansen Street on the one side and Liverpool Street, Southern Street and Kara Street on the other side. The two development sites are shown edged red on the plan at Appendix 1 and referred to in this Statement of Reasons as the “Development Sites”. Page 2 CITY OF SALFORD (LANGWORTHY SOUTH WEST) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 2017 2.3 The Development Sites were identified for redevelopment following housing market failure in a number of areas across the City of Salford in the mid/late 1990s. This failure occurred in a number of areas across the city, one of which was Langworthy. The outcome of this failure was the lack of quality housing to meet the needs and demands of local people or to attract new residents into the area. 2.4 Many of the areas affected by housing market failure were characterised by high levels of empty properties, large swathes of older terraced properties which were no longer in demand and low value properties which offered restricted choice for those wishing to move up the property ladder. In order to address this problem, the Seedley and Langworthy Renewal Area was declared in 2000. This proposed the comprehensive redevelopment of both areas. 2.5 The redevelopment proposals were preceded by the voluntary acquisition and subsequent clearance of a large number of terraced houses together with other ancillary properties. The proposal was to bring forward redevelopment of new build residential properties, ‘homeswaps’ for residents affected by site clearance, block improvements of retained housing, extensive remodelling of some terraced housing, shop front improvements, a new church, a new school and improvements to Chimney Pot Park. 2.6 The above proposals were initially funded through the Single Regeneration Budget and later by the Manchester/Salford Housing Market Renewal Fund (HMRF) Pathfinder Programme. However the HMRF funding programme came to an end several years earlier than planned, more importantly, before all the site assembly and redevelopment proposals could be implemented. 2.7 The Development Sites were subject to extensive voluntary acquisition activity before funding ceased. However, although the Council now already owns or has acquired a substantial part of the subject Development Sites, the Council was unable to acquire the Order Lands due to the whereabouts of owners being unknown. 3. Area of the Order Lands 3.1 The total area of the Order Lands comprise approximately 0.06 hectares and are shown shaded pink on the plan attached at Appendix 2. 4. The Enabling Power 4.1 Section 17 of the Housing Act 1985 (“the Housing Act”) empowers local housing authorities to compulsorily acquire land for the provision of housing accommodation. The acquisition must achieve a quantitative or qualitative housing gain. Page 3 CITY OF SALFORD (LANGWORTHY SOUTH WEST) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 2017 4.2 Under the provisions of Section 17 (1) (b) of the Housing Act, a local housing authority may acquire houses, or buildings which may be made suitable as houses, together with any land occupied with the houses or buildings. 4.3 Under the provisions of Section 17(2), the local housing authority is also empowered to acquire land for the purpose of disposing of houses provided, or to be provided, on the land or of disposing of the land to a person who intends to provide housing accommodation on it. 4.4 Section 17(3) allows the local housing authority to acquire land by agreement, or it may be authorised by the Secretary of State to acquire it compulsorily. 4.5 The Council is satisfied that in order to facilitate the future comprehensive redevelopment of the Development Sites the compulsory acquisition of the Order Lands is required. It is the Council’s intention having acquired the Order Lands to dispose of the Development Sites on the open market to a developer that will bring forward much needed residential development. 5. Purpose for seeking to acquire the land 5.1 As noted above, the purpose of seeking this CPO is to assemble the land that is necessary to facilitate the comprehensive redevelopment of the presently dormant Development Sites. The Council believes that without the inclusion of the Order Lands, any redevelopment would be fragmented in order to accommodate the Order Lands. This would in turn frustrate the prospect of the Development Sites being marketed to facilitate the comprehensive redevelopment of the wider area. 6. Justification for making the CPO 6.1 The Order Lands are located in the Langworthy ward of Salford, which contains a mix of privately owned and rented properties. A significant proportion of interests in the proposed Development Sites were acquired by agreement on a ‘deemed compulsory purchase’ basis between 2000 and 2011 before the renewal area programme came to an end. 6.2 Between 2011 and the present day negotiations have continued, where possible to acquire the interests required to facilitate development of the wider area but it has not been possible to acquire all identified interests by agreement. 6.3 The Order Lands remain in third party ownership as it has not been possible to acquire these interests as the whereabouts of the owners is not known. 6.4 The Council is satisfied that there is a compelling case in the public interest for the compulsory acquisition of the Order Lands as they are required in order to Page 4 CITY OF SALFORD (LANGWORTHY SOUTH WEST) COMPULSORY PURCHASE ORDER 2017 complete site assembly in order to facilitate redevelopment of the Development Sites. 7. Proposals for the Use of the Land 7.1 If the Order is confirmed and title in the Order Lands is vested in the Council, the intention is to market the Development Sites for residential development. The Council is confident that the Development Sites will generate a significant amount of interest from developers. 8. Statement of Planning Position 8.1 The Development Sites are currently unallocated in the Council’s draft Local Plan but in view of the previous use being predominantly residential and the need for housing in Salford which is supported by the statistics in paragraph 9 below it is considered highly likely that residential development would be permitted. 8.2 Relevant corporate polices The policy framework, which supports the making of this compulsory purchase order includes; The Salford City Council Housing Strategy ‘Shaping Housing in Salford 2020’ and planning policy for the area. Salford City Council – Housing Planning Guidance 2006. Salford 2025: A Modern Global City City of Salford Unitary Development Plan (UDP) policies saved beyond 21st June 2009 Planning Obligations SPD 2015 8.3 It is considered that the reasons behind the making of the compulsory purchase order and the proposals for the subsequent use of the land are consistent with the policies outlined above. 9. Information required by paragraph 107 of the Guidance 9.1 Paragraph 107 of the Guidance provides that, when applying for the confirmation of a CPO made under s17 of the Housing Act, the authority should provide information regarding the need for the provision of further housing accommodation in its area. This information is detailed below. Housing Stock and tenure 9.2 Council Tax records in 2017 show that Salford has a housing stock of approximately 115,000 dwellings. Owner occupation is the predominant form of tenure in the city, although the amount of owner occupied properties as a proportion of the total stock is generally quite low when compared to that for England and significantly lower in the Langworthy ward where the proposed development site is located.