Council to buy historic house hit by vandals
ALISTED building that has become a magnet for antisocial behaviour is to be bought by Rochdale Council.
Town hall chiefs have approved a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on the property at one Whitehall Street - but it is hoped the authority may not have to go through with the full process.
Robert Scott, housing project officer at the council, told cabinet members talks are now progressing with the owner of the building, but the CPO was necessary as a backstop should negotiations break down.
He told the meeting: “The building has been vacant for a long time, attracts significant crime and anti-social behaviour issues and has been on the radar of the police. The local constable has asked us what we are going to do about it.”
He said that a notice had been served compelling the owner to tidy up the site and that discussions around the purchase of the building were now at an early stage.
Mr Scott added: “The owner is co-operating with the council and we are hopeful the purchase may be agreed without the need to go through the whole CPO process but a resolution is necessary to secure our position.”
A council report states that the building’s current condition presents a public danger due to its lack of security, which allows access for trespass, crime and anti-social behaviour.
It goes on to say that its derelict condition is a ‘deterrent to investment’ and frustrates efforts to rejuvenate the town centre and attract visitors.
The CPO was one of three approved by cabinet members at their most recent meeting at Number One Riverside.
Another was also approved for the former Red Cross Mill site, in Redcross Street, but as with 1 Whitehall Street, recent developments suggest it may not be needed.
Mr Scott told the committee that a prospective purchaser had emerged since the council report was drawn up who appeared to have a ‘credible development plan’ and officers believe they should be given a ‘certain amount of time’ to make progress.
However, members agreed that a CPO should be authorised to act as a fallback should the plan ‘fail to be realised.’ Progress will be monitored after three months.
And it was a similar situation in the case of the former High Birch School in Marland Fold.
Planning permission for 23 homes at the site had been granted to Green Construction Ltd, but the developer was unwilling to make the section 106 developer contributions towards education and open space in the area.
However, there has since been a change of heart and the developer has now agreed in principle to make the payments.
Mr Scott said the authority believed this was ‘not just an idle promise’ but councillors again agreed to authorise a CPO should it be needed.
Coun Neil Emmott said everybody in the area had been delighted when planning permission was granted as it had been a ‘blot on the landscape for many, many years.’
He added: “I’m very much in favour of building houses on this site, we do need something because it is a mess, fair enough if it’s just a backstop to bring horses to water, as it were.”
But there was a note of controversy introduced to proceedings by Coun Billy Sheerin, who was unhappy with the owner of Castleton Home for the Elderly, who he said had been given extra time to develop the site after a CPO was authorised last month.
He said: “My residents have been looking at that for over a decade and absolutely nothing has happened. And I do know there are two businesses that are prepared to develop that site. And now we are looking at a backstop for someone that has messed about with us for 10 years, I think it’s disgraceful.”
Coun Dalat Ali also said a ‘line needs to be drawn’ and called for stringency over the High Birch School site.
Peter Maynard, head of housing services said legislation compelled the council to give owners ‘every possible chance’ or it risked losing a public inquiry should it be called.
He added : “What we’ve done in this case, with all of the owners, is laid down a very strict time table and very precise levels of activity they have to achieve we have done that in every single case. If they don’t do that it’s with the full understanding that we will press on with the case.”