LIVERPOOL Council leaders have put compulsory purchase orders in the Project Jennifer regeneration zone on ice amid claims developers are not offering local businesses enough money for their land and property.

Around 37 objections to the sums offered have been lodged by firms in the Scotland Road and Great Homer Street areas of Everton where developer St Modwen is planning a £150m revamp with housing and a Sainsbury’s superstore at the heart of the project.

Local business leaders said they believed the amounts they were being offered for their land and properties were “paltry” and they would be unable to secure new locations elsewhere.

The Daily Post has learned patience is wearing thin with council sources suggesting the authority “might not be unhappy” if another developer expressed an interest.

Tesco, which was involved in a protracted legal battle with the council over land the supermarket giant owns in the area necessary for the scheme to progress, paid £65 a square foot when preparing its own, now halted, project.

But it is understood St Modwen is only offering between £20 and £30 a square foot which council sources suggested was “the lowest end of the market value”.

Tesco eventually agreed to drop its legal challenge. But none of the land it owns – needed to progress the project – has yet been bought.

A council source said: “We wouldn't be having this discussion if Saint Modwen were offering higher market value rather than lower.

“The CPO only goes ahead if there's an offer on the table that the council thinks should be accepted and therefore the council decides to use its compulsory purchase powers.”

The decision not the lodge the CPOs with the government means the scheme is effectively in limbo until a solution can be reached.

In a letter to Victor Mass, consultant to the Rotunda House collective of businesses in Everton known as the Taylor Street Action Group, council regeneration chief Nick Kavanagh said “the council shares (your) frustrations and regrets the current delays, however the current financial climate has impacted on the scheme and slowed the level of progress we would all wish to have seen achieved by now”.

He added: “Although the council and St Modwen are currently working hard to understand and resolve the objections received to the CPO, this is not proving to be a quick or simple process. Until this is complete, St Modwen will be unable to progress the acquisitions.”

Another letter from the regeneration department in response to Mr Mass’ questions about delays to the scheme stated: “We remain committed to trying to ensure all the businesses affected by the scheme can relocate and prosper in new premises, but we cannot enter into detailed discussions about every question on the viability of the scheme and the integrity of our partners”.

Mr Mass welcomed the news the council understood the plight of local businesses but said firms were frustrated by the lack of answers so far from the regeneration directorate adding: “This is the very first light we have seen at the end of a ten-year long tunnel. The attempts by the partners in project Jennifer to “acquire” the Taylor Street Action Group’s’ holdings at demonstrably derisory values seems to have now been recognised by the city fathers and I hope they will now rectify things appropriately.