Flagship homes renewal scheme in turmoil over land wrangle

Apr 23 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post

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SEFTON’s flagship housing market renewal scheme was thrown into turmoil yesterday after a landowner refused to give up his property.

Liverpool-based Belfields Ltd served injunction papers on the council in an attempt to block a compulsory purchase order.

The company own the 5.5 acre Penpoll trading estate on Haw-thorne Road, Bootle, earmarked by Sefton for a housing estate.

Penpoll was included in Sefton’s Klondyke CPO issued in August, 2006. Vesting orders were served on Klondyke landowners on March 31 and the council is due to take formal ownership of the land on May 1 next week.

But Belfields are digging in their heels because they say the council gave them the go-ahead to develop the land themselves. They are claiming Sefton have estoppel-ed them – broken a promise – that has cost the firm more than £1m.

A hearing in Manchester on Tuesday will decide if the CPO can proceed.

A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “The CPO has been approved by the Secretary of State and the High Court, and was the subject of a detailed public inquiry. We will challenge this latest action and expect to take ownership of the land as planned.”

In February, Belfields accused Sefton of over-egging an estimate of how much it will cost to clean the land of industrial pollutants in order to reduce its value. The councildenied the slur.

Belfields have permission to build 149 homes on the site.

A spokesperson said: “We were led to believe by Sefton that we could continue to develop, which we have done and have spent more than £1m.

“The only delay has been the environment department failing to respond to our remediation strategy delivered in September by AMEC. We have accordingly served on them a non-determination order.

“We expect Tuesday’s hearing will enable us to continue with the development as per the council’s original promise. We are at least 14 to 18 months ahead of any other developer who might take over the land.”

Their lawyers are relying on an email from Sefton’s Alan Lunt, then assistant director for housing market renewal, to Belfields’s architects in the case demonstrating the estoppel.

benschofield