The Director of Regeneration and Place has authorised that the land in Patten Street, Birkenhead as identified as Appendix 1 is sold to Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for £120,000.

The Council owns a strip of land in Patten Street, Birkenhead being the site of former housing, although it has been a cleared, vacant site for in excess of 20 years. The site is shown edged red on appendix 1. The site has previously been identified for possible sale but has been retained due to its proximity and potential for development with adjacent land.

As part of plans to implement a franchised bus network, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) is assembling an estate of bus depots. LCRCA is currently in negotiations with a number of landowners and the land at Patten Street has been identified to potentially facilitate a primary substation required to provide the required power capacity to transition its fleet to Electric Vehicles.

To support its request to purchase this strip of land, LCRCA was asked to commission an independent valuation. CBRE were appointed and have recommended a market value of £120,000, which the council’s Manager of Assets and Surveying agrees represents market value. LCRCA has confirmed that it would be willing to meet this figure for the purposes of purchase and be responsible for the Council’s legal fees for the transaction.

The land is not operationally required by the Council. There are mature trees on the site which are likely to become the subject of Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs), but LCRCA has confirmed that this will not present an issue for their plans. The site is slightly fragmented by former passageways which are not currently within the registered ownership of the Council, although it has been agreed with the LCRCA that the Council will make endeavours to obtain title to the former passageways (at no extra cost to the Council) to be included in the transfer.

A sale of this site would remove the maintenance liability, albeit a relatively low amount.


The Council could sell the site on the open market, although its current shape, title issues and TPOs would affect the sale.

The Council could sell the site on the open market, although its current shape, title issues and TPOs would affect the sale.