Agenda item

Report of the Director of Property Services and Development

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Property Services and Development relating to proposed land acquisition and Compulsory Purchase Order for the delivery of the City Centre South Scheme.

A corresponding private report was also submitted to the meeting setting out the commercially confidential matters of the proposals. (Minute 70 below refers.)

The City Centre South scheme (the Scheme) would deliver transformational improvements to Coventry city centre through new homes, jobs, commercial and leisure opportunities and high-quality public spaces. In January 2017, the Council (their minutes 102/16 and 110/16 referred) and the Cabinet (minutes 104/16 and 107/16 referred) took the key decisions to appoint SPG as the preferred development partner, to accept £98.8m of grant funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and to approve, in principle, the use of compulsory purchase powers to deliver the Scheme.

The report, therefore, sought formal approval to make the necessary Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) further to these previous decisions. It should be noted that the Council’s preference was to acquire the land and rights necessary for the delivery of the Scheme by negotiation rather than CPO and negotiations with landowners would therefore continue in parallel with the CPO process.

Accordingly, the design of the Scheme also aimed to minimise the extent of third-party land required. The Council was the freeholder of the vast majority of the site, however, there was still a significant amount of the land required for the Scheme that was subject to leases or other interests granted to third parties. The Council required ownership and control of these property interests in order for the City Centre South scheme to be delivered.

Appendices to the report provided: the Draft CPO map showing land and rights proposed to be acquired; a plan showing proposed parameters of the Scheme; the Equalities Impact Assessment; the Draft Statement of Reasons; the draft Schedule of Interests; the Delivery Approach Report; the Draft CPO; the draft Highways Order Land; the land within the Council’s freehold ownership proposed for appropriation for planning purposes excluding open space land; the open space land within the redevelopment site proposed for inclusion within the Order Land in respect of which a certificate under section 19 Acquisition of Land Act 1981 was to be sought; the open space land within the redevelopment site in respect of which public notice of intention to appropriate for planning purposes and/or dispose was proposed to be given; the open space proposed to be provided within the Scheme; and the Site Assembly Strategy - Information for Businesses.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Resolves to make a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) pursuant to powers under Section 226(1)(a) Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and Section 13 Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976), in accordance with the procedures in the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, for the acquisition of interests in the land coloured pink and for the creation and acquisition of new rights over the land coloured blue on the draft CPO map attached at Appendix 1 to the report (the proposed Order Land) in order to facilitate the delivery of the City Centre South Scheme (the Scheme). 

2)    Resolves to appropriate for planning purposes the land owned by the Council within the proposed redevelopment site shown on the plan at Appendix 9 pursuant to section 122 Local Government Act 1972 in order to facilitate the Scheme.

3)  Authorises the Director of Property Services and Development, following consultation with the Director of Law and Governance, the Chief Operating Officer and the Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change,:

a)  To continue to negotiate terms to seek to acquire all the necessary interests and rights in the Order Land by agreement alongside progressing the CPO;

b)  To take all necessary steps to secure the making, confirmation and implementation of the CPO including in relation to making continued satisfactory progress in regards the funding of the Scheme, the publication and service of all notices and the promotion of the Council's case at any public inquiry, including but not limited to the steps in (c) to (m) below;

c)  To make any necessary amendments to the draft CPO Map (within the boundaries of the pink and the blue land on Appendix 1) and/or draft schedules to the CPO so as to include and describe all interests in the land and new rights required to facilitate the carrying out of the Scheme;

d)  To finalise and seal the CPO Map and the Order and finalise the draft Statement of Reasons, certificates and other supporting documents, to publicise the making of the CPO and to submit the CPO (with supporting documents) to the Secretary of State for confirmation and thereafter to produce (and where appropriate publish and/or serve) all other documents required in connection with the CPO;

e)  To acquire interests and new rights in the Order Land either by agreement or compulsorily (including pursuant to any blight notices as appropriate) including conduct of negotiations, making provision for the payment of compensation and, where appropriate, provision for temporary and/or permanent relocation of affected parties and/or for cases of exceptional hardship;

f)  To negotiate, agree terms and enter into other agreements with interested parties including agreements for the withdrawal of blight notices and/or the withdrawal of objections to the CPO and/or undertakings not to enforce the CPO on specified terms, including where appropriate seeking the exclusion of land or rights from the CPO, making provision for the payment of compensation and/or for relocation;

g)  To authorise entry onto land to undertake surveys under s172 Housing and Planning Act 2016 and/or other relevant powers;

h)  In the event that the CPO is confirmed by the Secretary of State (or the Council is authorised by the Secretary of State to confirm the CPO), to advertise and give notice of confirmation and thereafter to take all steps to implement the CPO and to secure possession of the Order Land including execution of General Vesting Declarations and/or service of Notices to Treat and Notices of Entry in respect of interests and rights in the Order Land and, where necessary, the appointment of High Court Enforcement Officers;

i)  To settle claims for compensation under s204 Housing and Planning Act 2016 in respect of rights, interests or restrictions which are overridden and/or to reach agreement for the release of any such rights etc. by affected third parties;

j)  To take all steps in relation to any legal proceedings relating to the CPO including defending or settling claims referred to the Lands Tribunal (Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal) and/or applications made to the courts and any appeals;

k)  To retain and/or appoint external professional advisers and consultants to assist in facilitating the promotion, confirmation and implementation of the CPO, the settlement of compensation and any other claims or disputes;

l)  To place statutory advertisements as required by section 122(2A) Local Government Act 1972 and section 233(4) Town and Country Planning Act 1990 of the Council’s intention to appropriate for planning purposes and thereafter to dispose of the open space land in the Council’s freehold ownership shown on the plan at Appendix 11 to the report; and

m)  To consider any objections received in response to the statutory advertisements referred to in paragraph (l) above and to decide whether any such land should be appropriated for planning purposes and disposed of to facilitate the Scheme; and

n)  At the appropriate time, subject to (m) above, to complete disposal of land within the redevelopment site to the developer, pursuant to power under section 233 Town and Country Planning Act 1990, in accordance with the terms of the development agreement.

4)  Delegates authority to the Director of Transportation and Highways to:

a)   Make an application under s.247 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to stop up areas of highway necessary to implement the proposals; and

b)   If required to facilitate the delivery of the Scheme, to take all necessary steps to commence the process of closure of Barracks Way and Market Way Car Parks and their removal from the Off-Street Parking Places Order 2005

5)  Resolves, where necessary in the absence of agreement, to exercise powers under ss 271 and 272 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in relation to the extinguishment of rights of statutory undertakers and electronic communications code network operators.

6)  Resolves, where necessary, to request the Secretary of State to exercise powers under s251 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (in accordance with regulation 15 of the Town and Country Planning Regulations 1992) to authorise the extinguishment of any public rights of way over land to be acquired or appropriated for the purposes of the Scheme.

7)  Delegates authority to the Director of Property Services and Development, following consultation with the Director of Law and Governance, the Chief Operating Officer and the Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change, to take all necessary, incidental or ancillary steps for the carrying into effect any of the recommendations set out in the report.