Decision

The Assistant Director
Property and Investment has authorised that:
 

(1) 
the site in Jackson Street, Birkenhead (as delineated red on
appendix 1) currently owned by A2B Skip Hire (WIrral) Ltd be transferred to the Council; and

 

(2) 
the site at Limekiln Lane, Wallasey (as delineated red on appendix
2) currently owned by the Council be transferred to A2B Skip Hire
(Wirral) Ltd; and
 
(3) 
the above transactions be at net nil consideration on the basis
that each site is of a value of a £200,000.

Reasons for the decision

A2B Skip Hire (Wirral)
Ltd (“A2B Skip Hire”) operates a site in Jackson Street
is as a waste transfer station.  The
extent of the site (“the Jackson Street site”) is shown
edged red on the plan attached as Appendix 1.  The Jackson Street site is situated within the
Hind Street and St Werburgh’s Regeneration Area as designated
in the Council’s adopted Local Plan.  Although the Jackson Street site forms part of the
second phase of housing delivery at Hind Street, the nature of the
current use would not be conducive to the proposed
redevelopment.  Officers, together with
the Council’s redevelopment partner for Hind Street, Ion,
have been working with A2B Skip Hire to explore relocation
opportunities.
 
The Council owns a
site in Limekiln Lane, Wallasey which is vacant and has been unused
for decades.  The extent of the site
(“the Limekiln Lane site”) is shown edged red on the
plan attached as Appendix 2.  The
Limekiln Lane site forms part of an Employment Allocation in the
Local Plan under EMP-RA8.1.  The
Limekiln Lane site has been considered for other projects such as
potential depot relocation and also to
support other regeneration schemes such as the proposed Cleveland
Street Neighbourhood Masterplan, but none have been brought forward
so far.  The Limekiln Lane site
therefore remains unused and surplus to the Council’s
requirements.
 
The Limekiln Lane site
has been identified as a suitable relocation site for A2B Skip Hire
and, to support discussions, independent valuations were
commissioned for both sites. Whilst the Limekiln Lane site is much
bigger, it has issues such as Japanese Knotweed and a significant
amount of filled ground.  A2B Skip Hire
is aware of these issues and is happy to address them.  In light of these
issues, the valuations for both sites are £200,000
respectively, which presents the opportunity for a land
exchange.
 
The sale will need to
be structured in such a way as to allow A2B Skip Hire to remain at
the Jackson Street site whilst it undertakes works to the Limekiln
Lane site and ensure that any necessary statutory approvals are
obtained.
 

Alternative options considered

The council would need
to seek to acquire the Jackson Street site at some point in the
future to deliver the Hind Street Scheme.  If the Council is unable to reach an agreement, it
would need to consider the use of Compulsory Purchase powers which
would take a considerable amount of time and would be more costly
than the current proposal.