Member Article

Britannia Group hits back at Manchester CPO plan

The Britannia Hotel Group has responded to plans published by Manchester City Council to seek a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the London Road Fire Station building in the city centre.

In a letter addressed to the council’s Chief Executive, Sir Howard Bernstein, Britannia says it is “prepared to enter into a reasonable agreement” to settle to future of the property, seen as a key part of the authority’s plans to regenerate the Piccadilly sector of the city centre.

Earlier this week, the council revealed plans to pursue a second attempt to secure compulsory purchase of the Grade II* listed building. It has been owned by the Cheshire-based Britannia Group since 1986. The council first sought a CPO in 2010, but this was rejected a year later.

The Britannia Group has planning permission to convert the Fire Station into a hotel, but no work has yet been started. This has brought it into conflict with the council.

The letter to Sir Howard, written by the Britannia Group’s Finance Director Robert Ferrari, states that the Group had expected the council would support Britannia’s plans for the redevelopment of the building under a proposed Draft Implementation / Development Agreement.

Mr Ferrari’s letter makes it plain that Britannia rejects the council’s approach, describing the authority’s proposition as a “cleverly drafted one-sided Forced Sale Contract and not an Implementation / Development Agreement at all”.

He adds that: “To be completely clear, we are not rejecting the idea of an Implementation Agreement but we are rejecting this specific Forced Sale Contract.”

The letter ends by saying that Britannia “remain prepared to enter into a reasonable agreement that is designed to ensure operational status on this site as quickly as possible”, concluding with an offer to discuss the ‘way forward’.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .