The Executive Meeting considered a proposal to authorise the use of the Council’s compulsory purchase powers to acquire all outstanding interests in property in the Prince’s Street area of the Town Centre to progress the Bridgefield Redevelopment Scheme and then agreed that
· agreement be given to the making of a Compulsory Purchase Order under s.226(1)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended), s.13 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, s.1 of the Localism Act 2011 and all other relevant powers to acquire all outstanding land and interests required for the Princes Street element of the scheme, and to create new rights facilitating the proposed development and treatment of the rear elevations of properties facing Bridgefield, together with the right to erect, repair, maintain and improve those elevations;
· should the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) be confirmed, agreement be given to the acquisition of the land and rights of the subject of the CPO subject to there being no material change in circumstances that would mean that it could not properly pursue the CPO;
· agreement be given to carry out and enter into arrangements to secure the appropriation for planning purposes of the land required for the development in order to utilise the power contained in Section 237 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended);
· the Corporate Directors of Place Management & Regeneration and Corporate and Support Services be authorised to
(i) take all necessary steps to implement these resolutions and to appropriate land, in accordance with the terms set out in the report and
(ii) 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, to make deletions from, and/or minor amendments, and modifications to the proposed Order and Order Plans, to agree to refrain from vesting any land/rights included within the Order should this be in their opinion appropriate, and to negotiate terms for the acquisition by agreement of any outstanding interests/rights in the land within the Order prior to its confirmation.