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Manchester City Council is seeking a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) on Britannia Hotels’ London Road Fire Station site, to ensure the property is brought back into use.
The Grade II-listed Edwardian property was placed on English Heritage’s ‘At Risk’ register in 1998 and has been under the ownership of Britannia Hotels since 1986.
An earlier CPO sought by the council was rejected by a government inspector in 2011 after Britannia assured a public inquiry that works to develop the property were imminent.
Manchester City Centre says Britannia was given the opportunity to enter into a legally-binding implementation agreement to develop the property as a hotel and to allow joint structural surveys of the building to take place, but that a satisfactory response was not received.
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, accused Britannia Hotels of “reckless abandon” after the hotel group failed to develop the property over the past 29 years.
Leese said: “We would still welcome a positive response from Britannia to our request for an implementation agreement as set out in our letter in October, but currently we are fighting for the future of this building and the significant contribution bringing it back in to use will give to the regeneration of Piccadilly.
“The building’s owners have shown a reckless abandon in their management of what is an incredibly important, landmark property. Despite consistent public promises to develop the building, they have failed to make any tangible progress, and have therefore failed as guardians of this fine heritage building.
“This compulsory purchase order is an unerring commitment on behalf of the city council to bring life back in to London Road Fire Station – a property which Manchester people have waited long enough to see developed – and we will do everything we can to make this happen.”
Image courtesy of Mike Peel
