Council give abandoned house a new lease of life
AN ABANDONED house that was dragging down an area after being left empty for nearly 10 years is to be given a new lease of life.
Stockport council is to use its powers to bring the problem property back into use as ‘much-need housing stock’.
It will use a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to acquire the ‘decaying’ home in Woodstock Avenue, Reddish, after failing to trace the absent owner despite repeated attempts.
The former occupant is believed to have left the property in 2012.
A council report describes the end-of-terrace house as being in a ‘very poor dilapidated condition’ and having a ‘detrimental impact on the environment and amenity of the local area’.
It adds that extensive damp and dry rot is causing problems at the nextdoor property, and these are expected to continue unless action is taken.
The report recommended approving the CPO as there was ‘still no prospect of the property being repaired and brought back into beneficial residential use as a unit of much needed housing stock in the foreseeable future’.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday night, Coun Sheila Bailey said the use of CPO powers would be ‘very welcome’ in Reddish.
The cabinet member for Sustainable Stockport added: “This particular property has been a problem for a long, long time.
“The council stepping in now to use its CPO powers to acquire the land will hopefully bring this very long-standing problem to an end.”
Coun Jude Wells, who represents Reddish South, agreed that a CPO was the right move. She said: “We have obviously had a number of comments from neighbours around the state of this property and the detrimental effect to the immediate neighbour but also the neighbourhood in terms of issues around the house and its decaying nature.”
Coun Wells backed making improvements to the property in order to address the ‘major concerns of a number of residents in the area’.
Her ward colleague Coun Janet Mobbs earlier this month told a scrutiny committee meeting that the house was in a ‘terrible state’ and neighbours had been worried for a long time.
The cabinet unanimously agreed to using CPO powers to acquire the property.
The council intends to sell the house on the open market once the necessary renovation work has been completed.
Although the authority believes there is currently no alternative than to use CPO powers, it will open negotiations with the owner ‘if and when the opportunity arises’.
A payment to the market value of the property will need to be set aside in case the owner comes forward following the completion of the CPO.
Stockport council’s cabinet met on Tuesday, April 28.