Meeting documents

(a) Conditional upon the prior entering into of either:

(i) negotiating with land owners;

(ii) setting out the terms for the withdrawal of objections to the CPO;

(iii) where appropriate, seeking exclusion of land from the CPO;

(iv) making arrangements to assist with the relocation of occupiers;

3.1 Approximately 100 separate interests have been identified to date in the redevelopment site by the referencing exercise referred to in paragraph 8 of this report. The majority of these are commercial interests and ownerships.

3.2 The use of compulsory purchase powers will make the Council (rather than CGNU) liable for claims for compensation. It is crucial therefore that CGNU indemnifies the Council for all costs arising from the use of compulsory purchase powers. Thus, the Council's use of its compulsory purchase powers (i.e. the making of the CPO) will be conditional upon the prior entering into of either:

(b) a separate Full Indemnity Agreement in respect of such costs and liabilities.

3.3 In practice, therefore, all of the costs associated with site assembly will be paid by CGNU.

3.4 An Interim Indemnity Agreement has been entered into between the Council and CGNU which provides for the payment by CGNU of (inter alia) the Council's professional costs in the preparation of the CPO, the Full Indemnity Agreement and the Development Agreement.

3.4 A draft of the Full Indemnity Agreement has been prepared and is the subject of ongoing negotiations between the Council and CGNU. It is anticipated that the Full Indemnity Agreement will be settled and entered into within 4 weeks of the date of this report.

4.1 The proposed development site comprises the Southgate Centre, the Ham Gardens car park, Bath Spa railway station and car park, the bus station, the former Co-op Dairy building, and the partly vacant and under-utilised buildings fronting Dorchester Street and backing onto the River Avon, including Churchill House. With respect to the railway station, none of the proposed works to the station or adjoining land will prejudice the operation of the railway.

4.2 The need for a comprehensive redevelopment of the Southgate area of Bath is widely accepted. The visual appearance of the area is poor, with existing buildings either in a state of neglect or of an inappropriate design. The current road system is also unsatisfactory in that it creates conflicts between pedestrians, buses, cars and lorries.

4.3 Southgate is one of the main gateways to the city with many visitors arriving at the railway station or bus station. The quality of appearance of the Southgate area gives a poor first impression, which detracts from the city's status as a regional shopping destination, tourist destination and World Heritage Site.

4.3 Bath City Council first recognised the need to redevelop the Southgate area in the 1980s when the former long leasehold owners of the Southgate Centre sought to redevelop the site. In 1988, Bath City Council published the Bath City Council Objectives in recognition of the inadequacies of the existing Southgate Centre. These objectives remain to be realised and are now reflected in the adopted Local Plan and Revised Deposit Draft Local Plan.

4.4 While previous attempts to redevelop the site were unsuccessful, the Council and CGNU have now agreed proposals for a high quality mixed use redevelopment which will enhance the city centre's vitality and viability.

4.5 On 5 March 2003, the Council Executive received a report updating it on the status of the Southgate redevelopment project. A copy of this report is attached at Appendix 2. It advised that:

4.6 In accordance with this report, the Council Executive resolved to:

4.7 Planning permission for CGNU's mixed use redevelopment of the whole site (excluding the Southgate Footbridge which is the subject of an earlier planning permission) was granted on 25 September 2003. A section 106 agreement was entered into on 24 September 2003 in conjunction with the grant of planning permission. Listed building consent and conservation area consent for certain elements of the scheme were granted (respectively) on 10 May and 21 June 2002. A separate planning permission was granted on 10 May 2002 for works to the Southgate footbridge. Together these consents comprise the main planning consents for the proposed development.

4.8 The permitted mixed use redevelopment of this five hectare site includes the following elements:

(b) 91 residential units of which 23 will be provided as affordable housing;

(e) creation of a new public square in front of Bath Spa station;

4.9 The proposed scheme comprises 37,567 square metres of gross retail floor space which represents a net increase of retail floor space of 17,094 square metres. The scheme also includes 3,522 square metres of leisure floor space and 2278 square metres of Class A3 (restaurant) floor space.

4.10 It is estimated that the scheme will create approximately 700 person years of construction based jobs and a net increase of 966 permanent jobs in the City (comprising 705 retail and leisure jobs at Southgate, with a further 261 jobs arising indirectly in the Bath economy). The section 106 agreement requires CGNU to use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that contractors and sub-contractors employ a minimum number of local persons during the construction of the development.

4.11 The introduction of residential and leisure uses will increase activity in the area and improve security through "24-7" usage. Southgate will become a stronger and more integrated part of the city centre. Accordingly, the proposals should be seen in the strategic context as enhancing Bath's environment thereby strengthening its role as a tourist and shopping destination. The proposals create the potential to deliver much needed and long awaited regeneration for Southgate, as well as creating job opportunities for local communities.

5. PLANNING POLICY

5.1 The CGNU proposals conform with the Adopted Local Plan, the Joint Replacement Structure Plan and the Revised Deposit Draft Local Plan. We refer you to paragraph 8 of the draft Statement of Reasons at Appendix 3 for details as to how the proposals conform with the relevant plan policies.

6. PROGRAMME

6.1 The project time scale is anticipated to be as set out below. It must be recognised that many of the actions are outside of the Council's control and it is therefore not possible to be precise.

7. THE CPO POWERS AND PROCESS

7.1 Under section 226(1)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, a local authority may be authorised to compulsorily acquire any land in its area which is suitable for and required in order to secure the carrying out of development, redevelopment or improvement. This power is designed to facilitate regeneration projects and is the most appropriate power available to the Council in the context of the proposed development.

7.2 It is necessary for the Council to resolve formally to use compulsory purchase powers before it can make a CPO. The final decision on the CPO rests with the Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State (the "Secretary of State") who will decide whether to confirm the CPO having considered the justification for the CPO and any objections, if necessary by way of public inquiry.

7.3 In resolving to use compulsory purchase powers, the Council must be satisfied that it is necessary to acquire the land in order to secure the delivery of the scheme. In this context, "necessary" means "something more than desirable" but not "essential". This justification forms a key part of the 'Statement of Reasons' which sets out the need for the CPO and sets the context of the powers and the process. The Statement of Reasons will be submitted in support of the CPO. The latest draft of this document is attached at Appendix 3.

8. CPO BOUNDARY

8.1 The extent of the CPO boundary (i.e. the land to be subject to the CPO) is set out on the plan attached as Appendix 1. The intention is to include only those areas of land and property interests that are required in order to enable the scheme to be implemented. The relevant property interests have been identified by a process known as "referencing". This exercise has been undertaken by Land Aspects, a private specialist firm, who has been appointed to identify all relevant interests in the development site. This has involved desktop research and contacting known owners and occupiers by letter and formal requisition to establish their ownerships. Where, despite making all reasonable enquiries, it has not been possible to identify the owners of interests in land and buildings within the development site, site notices will be placed on such land at the time of making the CPO in accordance with statutory requirements.

10.1 While the project could seek to secure site assembly purely by private agreement with property owners, it is unlikely that a site of this size and complexity could be successfully assembled without the exercise of compulsory purchase powers to some degree. It is therefore considered crucial that the site is supported by a CPO in order to achieve certainty of delivery.

10.2 Prior to the availability of compulsory purchase powers, CGNU will continue to purchase interests by agreement where the opportunity arises. A strategy for securing vacant possession of properties within the redevelopment site has been designed by CGNU. This strategy identifies three categories of occupiers and the different approaches to be followed in each of the three cases:

10.3 Efforts to acquire land and property interests by agreement will be continued after the Council's resolution up to the point at which it becomes necessary to compulsorily purchase the remaining interests in order to maintain the programme for the delivery of the project.

10.4 The Council has 11 tenants within the redevelopment site who are required to vacate their premises in order to enable the development to proceed. With the exception of the car park to the rear of Lewis House, vacant possession can be secured on all of these properties within less than 12 months. The Council will therefore be required to serve break notices in respect of these properties in accordance with a rolling programme in order to secure vacant possession within the time scales envisaged by the construction programme.

Internal

14.1 The Human Rights Act 1998 prohibits public authorities from acting in a way which is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The Council is therefore required to consider whether its actions would infringe the human rights of anyone affected by the making of the CPO. While certain Convention rights may be relevant to the CPO (such as the 'right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions'), interference with such rights by public authorities will be justified where the public interest outweighs the interests of the private individual. It is considered that any interference with Convention rights caused by the CPO will be justified and proportionate in the wider public interest in order to secure the economic, social, physical and environmental regeneration of Southgate.

14.2 We refer you to paragraphs 10.1-10.3 of the draft Statement of Reasons at Appendix 3 for a more detailed analysis of the human rights implications of making the CPO.