Purpose

This relates to Council land within
a steeply sloping site which was formerly part of the site of
Stamford Street Clinic.

A third party is in possession of
the Council’s land and has a presumed valid Possessory Title
claim.

The Council’s land is
adjacent to the War Memorial to the west, the unnamed steeply
sloping highway between Stamford Street and Trinity Street to the
north, the River Tame to the south and private land to the east
preventing access to Old Street.  The Council’s land is effectively land
locked and therefore undevelopable.

When the former NHS clinic closed,
the site was acquired by a contractor who fenced off the land
(including the Council’s land) and demolished the building in
2009.

The Council has made no attempt to
regularise matters within at least the last 10
years.  Even if the application for Possessory Title is
opposed now, the application will still be approved as the
developer can prove he has been in adverse possession of land
adjacent to his own under the mistaken but reasonable belief that
he is the owner of it; the exact line of the boundary with this
adjacent land has not been determined and the land to which the
application relates was registered more than a year prior to the
date of the application.

Content

DETERMINED:

 

The
Council’s freehold Title be sold to the developer for a
modest capital receipt plus the Council’s fees and
costs. 

Reasons for the decision

The land will be transferred to the
developer for nil value if his Possessory Title claim is
filed.  The Council will receive a modest capital
receipt plus full fees instead of nothing.

Alternative options considered

The Council could try to oppose any
Possessory Title claim but it is known that the 10 year Notice
period has expired without the required actions being taken by the
Council and any defence would therefore fail.