Decision details

This report seeks approval to request an extension of the Initial Demolition Notices issued as part of the Yorke Drive Estate Regeneration Project, to ensure legal continuity on Right to Buy applications.

To support an application to the Secretary of State to extend the time period for the initial demolition notices served in relation to the York Drive Regeneration Scheme.

The justification to extend the Initial Demolition Notices is grounded in a series of unprecedented and complex challenges that have impacted project progression, including the COVID-19 pandemic; the war in Ukraine; redesign requirements; and the resolution of highways concerns through the planning process. Extending the notices safeguards the project’s strategic objectives, and enables the Council to complete all final acquisitions (including the Compulsory Purchase Order) whilst preventing the continuation of Right to Buy applications within the Yorke Drive Regeneration zone.

It continues to be an option not to extend the Initial Demolition Notices and allow them to expire. This poses as a high risk to the Council should a tenant subsequently submit a Right to Buy application due to the timescales and costs associated with new, fragmented, Compulsory Purchase Orders. The legal impact of this could be delays of between 12-18 months on the project programme, leaving the Council vulnerable to financial penalties and clauses from Lovell due to the inability to progress the construction programme on time.