Council prepares new bid for London Road Fire Station
MANCHESTER City Council has confirmed it is preparing an offer for the London Road Fire Station site near Piccadilly station.
The council’s attempt to purchase the building via a Compulsory Purchase Order was rejected by a public inquiry in November last year, leaving the council with a £700,000 bill for its own costs as well as a claim from its owner Britannia Hotels to recover £750,000 for its legal fees.
The Hale-based company has owned the Grade II-listed site for around 25 years but the lack of progress has been a source of frustration for the city council.
In a statement council leader Sir Richard Leese said: “Britannia have owned this landmark building for more than a quarter of a century but have demonstrated no desire to bring it back into use.
“Our goal throughout has been to bring it back into use so that it makes a positive contribution to the regeneration of the Piccadilly area rather than blighting it and we are in the process of finalising a formal offer to take it off their hands so we can get on with the job.”
Britannia secured planning approval for the 227-bed scheme in September 2010 shortly after Manchester City Council began moves to compulsorily purchase the site.
It has since said this is not “sustainable either in the current climate or in the foreseeable future” and in March reverted to an earlier scheme which would see a 15-storey glass extension rising from the triangular courtyard of the tower.
