Knowsley Council has issued an enforcement notice against the owner of an unfinished residential estate in Kirkby.
The site, at Kenbury Road in the Northwood area has lain partially built and derelict since work stopped on the development in 2021.
The site is currently owned by Liverpool Community Homes Plc, which in turn is owned by Orcego Home Solutions Ltd, a company currently in administration. Administrators were appointed in November 2022.
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Knowsley Council had refused planning permission for the development in 2017, but this was later overturned by the planning inspectorate following an appeal lodged by developer, Samuel Beilin and Partners.
According to planning documents submitted to Knowsley Council, the land was owned by Samueil Beilin’s company Leo Properties Ltd at the time of the planning application.
Land Registry records show the land was previously owned by Knowsley Council before being sold to Peter McInnes in 2011 after which it was acquired by Leo Properties Ltd.
According to a council report published this week, work commenced on the site in 2020 but appeared to have stalled by mid-2021.
Concerns were raised over the state of the site in March 2022 after fencing was removed leading to a “significant amount” of fly-tipping, which was reported to the council’s environmental health team.
The site was one of several “under common ownership” which had stalled in the borough and the report notes the council tried to “engage with the owners to try to understand why works had stalled, and what the intentions were relating to recommencing, but also to secure improvements to the site, including making it more secure.”
After several attempts to contact the owners, work was carried out by them to secure the site in April 2022. However, by the following month the fencing had once again been compromised and the site left open.
The report details how the council again attempted to engage the owners to put a solid hoarding around the site in order to make it more secure. A remote meeting was held where the owners “committed to securing the site with a solid hoarding removing the accumulated waste.”
However, that did not happen and the fly tipping situation “worsened”. The council’s building control team secured one of the units and issued a community protection notice requiring the owner to remove the outstanding rubbish at the site.
When this did not take place by the deadline on August 2022 the council took the owners to court. In January this year, Liverpool Community Homes Plc were fined £14,000 for non compliance for this and another site they own in Lyme Grove, Huyton.
The council also undertook work in November 2022 to secure the site and remove the rubbish that had accumulated.
By January, the situation had deteriorated once again, with the council report noting: “A site visit was conducted on 25th January 2023 which revealed the fencing, including the posts had been removed from the site entirely.
“Only a few broken sections of fencing remained on site, meaning the site was once again open to access.”
Boarding which had been put in place on the ground floors of the unfinished buildings had also been remove,d leaving the houses open to access, with fly tipping starting to accumulate once again.
The council said they were then contacted by a creditor of the Liverpool Community Homes Plc, who conducted a site visit in February, telling the council that “preparations were underway to recommence development as soon as finances were in place to do so, and legal issues were resolved” with a date given for the week of Feburary 27 for this to be “resolved”.
The council were advised works would then be able to resume, however, February 27 came and went with no updates. The council attempted to make contact, receiving an update on March 15 that financing had been securing and work would soon commence.
The council were told a contractor would put a new fence up, although in the meantime a fire had been started at the site with more reports of antisocial behaviour, which led officers to conclude an intervention was needed because the “potential for harm to the amenity of the local area remains high and the frequency of anti social behaviour reports appears to be worsening.”
The council then made the decision to issue a planning enforcement notice, compelling the site’s owners to take action to remedy the situation within 28 days. If this is not carried out the council could then prosecute the owners for non compliance.
A Knowsley Council spokesperson told the LDRS: “The Council has taken swift and robust enforcement action against the owners of the site and already secured a successful prosecution in February 2023.
“Further enforcement notices have been served and should the developer fail to comply with their requirements the Council will consider further prosecutions.”
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