Work on getting stalled development sites across Liverpool moving again has begun as a senior council officer vowed sub par developers would not be able to take them on.
A “tripartite working group” consisting of the council, the combined authority and Homes England is beginning plans to bring work back to stalled sites.
The issue has been a running sore in the city for years, with more than 30 developments currently stalled.
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In addition to their scarring effect on the city’s landscape, a number of the sites have also caused huge problems for investors who have been left facing large financial losses.
The financial model used to fund many of the now stalled developments in Liverpool was the focus of a separate scrutiny group which reported its findings last year.
Speaking at yesterday’s regeneration and sustainability select committee, Liverpool Council’s Claire Singer said the working group was currently aiming to prioritise sites for intervention, with these proposals then set to be brought to the council’s cabinet for sign off.
Ms Singer said the issues facing each site were varied and that the council would approach each individually.
That came after a question from councillor Steve Munby about whether there would be stalled developments which were “vile” and shouldn’t proceed in their current form.
Ms Singer said: “Some of the sites are stalled because they are under investigation, other sites are stalled for economic reasons as a result of Covid.
“Actually, really understanding the cause and effect of those and then which sites can be unlocked and how much that is going to cost is an exercise that is underway at the moment.
“I appreciate what you’re saying about sites where planning permission may have been granted where as a city we may not want that to be delivered out.
“What I can say is that every site has different attributes and reasons as to why it’s stalled so this is a painstaking and detailed exercise looking at land ownership, companies that own sites, people who are involved, title issues, planning issues.
“There are lots of complications, we think it’s going to be a very expansive piece of work.”
Ms Singer said commercial confidentiality had prevented her from providing a list of the sites to councillors but said she would try to bring more detail about the work to the committee in the future.
She also faced questions about how the council would treat developers where there were concerns about their ability to deliver developments in the city but who expressed an interest in taking on sites.
Ms Singer said that while a large number of the sites that had stalled were private sector sites with no council involvement, newly tightened rules within the council’s regeneration department would aim to ensure sub par developers could not take on projects in the future.
There have been a series of reforms within the regeneration team after brutal criticisms in a government inspection into the council.
Ms Singer said: “For any dealings by the regeneration department in relation to the development of sites in the future, every developer or purchaser of land will need to go through the council’s very robust due diligence process.
“We have new contract standing orders that reduce the value of disposals that need to be reported to cabinet and every process will need to go through a series of internal approvals.
“That includes the commissioners but also cabinet, statutory officers’ group, the chief executive officer’s group and a number of other internal processes before it is approved.
“I do feel there are robust processes in there and if someone wasn’t passing muster at the first stage, which is the due diligence stage, then they wouldn’t be allowed to proceed.”
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