Council could use powers to buy derelict Walsall land and buildings for redevelopment
Derelict land and buildings left to rot in Walsall which end up attracting trouble and vermin could be seized in order to get them redeveloped.
Walsall Council’s cabinet is expected to back an initiative to use Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers to tackle privately owned sites which have fallen into disrepair or dereliction.
The aim is to bring them back into use for housing or employment land and ease the pressure and need to dig up Green Belt land for future developments.
Walsall Council deputy leader Adrian Andrew set up the Derelict Sites Task Force to identify sites and look at ways and bringing them forward including negotiation, enforcement and CPO as a last resort.
Acquiring derelict properties forms a big part of the Willenhall Masterplan, with plans in place to build 107 homes on land at Moat Road and Villiers Street.
Also being targeted are long-term vacant industrial premises and former pub buildings, such as The Brown Jug, in Short Heath, which has sat empty for years.
The report said: “Across the borough there are a number of privately-owned brownfield sites and long-term vacant properties that continue to be undeveloped and left to deteriorate into dereliction causing blight in the local area.
“Many of these sites attract anti-social behaviour (e.g. vandalism, arson, drug abuse), vermin problems, and have an overall detrimental effect on the community, the environment and visible attractiveness and perceptions of the area.
“As well as the environmental and community benefits of bringing sites and premises back into use, these sites are important to the borough’s land supply and delivery of growth targets in relation to new homes and employment land.
“The redevelopment of brownfield sites will help reduce the pressure and need for the release of Green Belt land for development.
“Whilst there are some responsible private owners who are proactive in bringing forward their assets for refurbishment or redevelopment, there are many examples where owners are unwilling or unable to achieve this, particularly within a reasonable time frame, and despite concerted support and guidance from the Council (e.g. with planning and funding opportunities).
“This includes sites that are long-term unoccupied where the owner has no planning proposals or consent forthcoming for redevelopment; where the owner has secured planning consent but provides no assurances, nor actively pursues steps to implement the permission in a timely manner; or where planning consent has been allowed to lapse.
“Throughout the borough and our town and district centres, there is clear evidence of such long-term vacant sites.
“For example, former pub premises, redundant low quality industrial premises allocated for housing use, and empty buildings of conservation merit.
“There are also vacant brownfield sites within the regeneration pipeline that continue to be undeveloped, largely due to landowner expectations of valuations and viability.
“In cases of larger regeneration schemes where there are multiple private owners and interests, like in Walsall Town Centre and the Walsall to Wolverhampton Growth Corridor, achieving comprehensive redevelopment is also difficult without public sector intervention in land assembly.
“As a local authority, the council has powers to acquire land and buildings in
private ownership to enable comprehensive and safe development, providing it can be shown that there is a “compelling case in the public interest”.
“The making of a CPO must always be done as a last resort when all efforts to bring forward redevelopment and acquire by negotiation have failed.”
The issue will be discussed by the council's cabinet on Wednesday.
