Decision details

The report seeks authority to sell an area of unused land at Junction Road along with other privately owned land to MCI Developments Limited (75% owned by Keepmoat Homes Limited), enabling the development of 41 affordable houses across both sites. 

That the Executive Member for Finance and Resources:

1.    approve the sale of Land at Junction Road; and

2.    approve that the Chief Property Officer in consultation with the Director of Legal and Governance prepare all necessary legal documentation in order to sell the land.

As stated above, the Head of Property Services is minded to approve the disposal of this land under her delegated powers subject to ICM approval to the private treaty sale.

1.    Do nothing the land would remain in SCC ownership and maintenance liability would remain with SCC. The land and the adjacent site in private ownership would remain undeveloped as wither site is unlikely to be viable in isolation. The site has been vacant for many years and there has been little interest site since the housing market recession in 2008. Planning Policy has considered the merits of the allocation of the site for open space purposes as well as its allocation for housing. The severe shortage of housing land in the city has seen the majority of the site now allocated specifically for housing purposes. In the absence of housing uses it is difficult to see how this land could be brought to beneficial use and this change in planning approach coincides with renewed interest in the land.

2.    An alternative option would be to market the sites jointly or independently. The private owner has soft market tested their site.  Marketing the SCC site in isolation from the privately owned land is unlikely to generate significant interest and would result in a piecemeal and less coordinated form of development.