The report of the Strategic Director (Development) is attached

(Councillor Richards declared a personal interest in this item as a member of the Board of One Manchester)

The Strategic Director, Development submitted a report on proposals for the compulsory purchase of land within the Ben Street neighbourhood, being two void terraced properties and the sites of 2 former terraced properties under the provisions of section 17 of the Housing Act 1985 for the purpose of providing housing accommodation (“the Order Lands”).

The report explained that in 2015 a Regeneration Strategy was adopted for the area as part of meeting the increasing demand for housing in the city and attempt to address the long term sustainability of the area. That Strategy sought to raise the quality and range of housing offer through new build, refurbishment of vacant stock environmental improvements to existing stock covering facelifts and streetscape enhancements. The Council had allocated £15.61m to enable the investment to proceed. The investment plans would also be underpinned by improving the neighbourhood management of the area, working in partnership with local residents, a bona fide registered housing provider and private landlords.

Since 2015 many individually the elements of the Strategy had proceeded and had provided short term improvements to the neighbourhood. The details of those were set out in the report. However, to be sure that the Ben Street area could become a thriving and sustainable neighbourhood it was now felt that for the future they needed to be implemented collectively.

Given the history of the area, it was not considered likely that the owners of the Order Lands would come forward to negotiate the acquisition by the Council of their interest, or provide an undertaking to refurbish and return their void properties back to occupation. Therefore, compulsory purchase appeared to be the most appropriate way to bring the Order Lands back into beneficial use. It was considered that, following acquisition of the Order Lands and implementation of the works, there would be both a qualitative and a quantitative gain in housing provision.

Appended to the report was a “Statement of Reasons” that would form part of the legal justification for why it was necessary to use Compulsory Purchase in this instance. The report explained that the Statement had been prepared in accordance with the legal and Government guidance.

Having considered the report and the Statement of Reasons we agreed that the use of Compulsory Purchase was appropriate and authorised the making of an Order.

Decisions

1.         To authorise the making of the City of Manchester (Ben Street) Compulsory Purchase Order 2019 (“the Order”) under Section 17of the Housing Act 1985, and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 to acquire the Order Lands for housing purposes for the reasons set out in the Statement of Reasons appended to the report.

2.         To authorise the City Solicitor to seal the Order and to take all necessary steps, including the publication and service of all statutory notices and presentation of the Council’s case at public inquiry, to secure confirmation of the Compulsory Purchase Order by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and the vesting of the land in the City Council.

3.         To authorise the Strategic Director Development (in the event that the Secretary of State notifies the Council that it has been given the power to confirm the Order) to confirm the Order, if the Secretary of State is satisfied that it is appropriate to do so.

4.         To authorise the Head of Development to approve agreements with landowners setting out the terms of withdrawals of objections to the Order including where appropriate the exclusion of land from the Order.

5.         To authorise the Strategic Director Development and the City Solicitor to make deletions from, and/or minor amendments, and modifications to the proposed Order and Order Lands plan or to agree to refrain from vesting any land included within the Order should this be in their opinion appropriate.

6.         To authorise the Head of Development to negotiate terms for the acquisition by agreement of any outstanding interests in the land within the Order prior to its confirmation.

7.         To authorise the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) to take all necessary steps to secure the closure of all relevant highways, streets and alleyways which are required for development to proceed, if requested by the Director of Housing.

8.         To agree that the resources of the City Council are sufficient to carry out the duties resulting from the making of the Order as outlined in this report.