Council pushes forward with Knowledge Quarter CPOs

Liverpool City Council is set to approve the use of compulsory purchase powers to complete the land assembly required for the Knowledge Quarter’s £1bn Paddington Village, planned in the city’s university district.

Paddington Village is a 30-acre development area centred around the former site of the Archbishop Blanch school. Projects set to be built within the Knowledge Quarter include a £35m live-learn facility for Liverpool International College, a £30m cancer treatment centre by Proton International, and a Northern Centre of Excellence for the Royal College of Physicians.

While the council said “a significant proportion of land and property has been acquired to date”, compulsory purchases look set to be necessary to ensure that the council acquires the remaining plots.

The area required to make up Paddington Village is bounded by Minshull Street, Mount Vernon Road, Upper Mason Street, Mason Street, and Smithdown Lane.

The council’s cabinet meeting on Friday 7 April is being asked to approve the progression of the compulsory purchase orders. A report ahead of the meeting said that the land required for the project is made up of open brownfield land, and buildings including offices occupied by businesses and student residences.

The properties set to be the subject of the CPO are 25, 27, 29, and 31 Smithdown Lane, and 2, 4 Elm Grove, and 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 Albert Street.

Even with the progression of compulsory purchase powers, negotiations with individual landowners can still be ongoing, with the use of CPOs seen as a last resort.

While the amount of money required to fund the CPOs and the land acquisition was not disclosed, the council said it already had the necessary funding in its capital programme to buy the remaining land interests and clear the site.