The Director of Regeneration and Place has approved the appropriation of land at Pasture Road, Moreton pursuant to Section 122 of the Local Government Act 1972 and section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 with the effect of overriding the rights referred to in Appendix 1 of this Decision notice

The recommendations within this report enable the Council to comply with its legal duties further to an Agreement for sale between Wirral Borough Council, Wirral Growth Company LLP and Countryside Properties (UK) Ltd dated 22 November 2024

There is a Sale Agreement between Wirral Growth Company LLP, Countryside Properties (UK) Limited and Wirral Borough Council dated 22 November 2024 to sell the land at Pasture Road, Moreton to Countryside Properties (UK) Limited. The extent of the land to be sold is set out on the attached plan.

The land is to be acquired for planning purposes. An outline planning application for the development of Pasture Road, Moreton was submitted by Wirral Growth Company and Lidl Great Britian Limited in August 2022. The planning application involved proposals to demolish the former youth and community centre to facilitate the construction of a food store, demolish the former family centre to accommodate the development of care apartments and a residential development and to expand the existing library. The planning application under reference APP/22/01686.
was approved on 29th November 2023 subject to an agreement under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and Section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972. Reserved matters approval was granted on 10 September 2024 under application reference DLS/24/00349 relating to appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the erection of 44 dwellings and an 80 bedroom affordable extra care apartment block (with associated infrastructure and open space).

It is intended that when works on the Pasture Road development site commence any third-party rights will be overridden and converted to potential compensation. The extent of the rights that are to be overridden are set out in Appendix 1 to this decision notice.

Any third-party right that the appropriation overrides when the works on the Pasture Road, Moreton development site commence will be converted to a statutory right to compensation from the Council. It is intended that when works on the Pasture Road development site commence, any third-party rights will be overridden and converted to potential compensation The Buyer is responsible for compensation. This is dealt with contractually because ultimately the Council could be pursued for compensation claims. The Council has an indemnity in the agreement for claims arising from S204 of the Housing & Planning Act 2016 in relation to any potential claims. As such, there is no financial impact to the Council.
Section 122 of the Local Government Act 1972 provides ‘The Council may appropriate land for any purpose for which the Council is authorised by stature to acquire land by agreement any land which belongs to it and is no longer required for the purpose for which it is held immediately before the appropriation.’

Section 203 for the Housing and Planning Act 2016 states that ‘a person may carry out building or maintenance work to which this subsection applies even if it involves interfering with a relevant right or interest”.

This applies to building or maintenance work where the work is carried out on land that has any time on or after been appropriated by a local authority for planning purposes.

This will be engaged on commencement of the development works enabling the buyer to develop the site notwithstanding any third-party rights over the Pasture Road development site which may exist. Such rights will be overridden by the carrying out of those works and converted into a potential claim for compensation.

Not appropriating the site for planning purposes would not enable the development of the site. Given the legal agreement that is currently in place this is not an option.