The proposed St Peter’s Waterside development includes a new office development and up to 270 new homes and would be situated next to the innovation centre, which received approval from the Council’s planning committee last month.
Local authorities and Government agencies in England have the ability to use their statutory powers to compulsorily acquire land under a CPO to deliver social and economic changes.
CPO will cover a series of sites within the Northampton EZ, the aim of which is to rejuvenate a huge area of disused land, offering incentives to companies to invest in the area, the WNDC said.
WNDC is an urban development corporation (UDC). UDCs are set up by the Government to aid the regeneration of areas and have certain powers including the power to make compulsory purchases.
The sites that WNDC will acquire by CPO stretch from opposite Northampton Railway Station to Carlsberg’s UK headquarters and are located alongside the River Nene.
“Over recent years, we have been purchasing land in Northampton’s waterside area so it can be redeveloped. The compulsory purchase order will help us complete this process and enable the construction of a landmark office development in future," said Chris Garden, WNDC’s Director of Regeneration.
The preparations for the CPO will begin this month, with a public inquiry and a decision by the Secretary of State later in the year.
It is the second CPO that WNDC has commenced in the Northampton EZ. In January, the Corporation confirmed that it will prepare a CPO for 40 hectares of brownfield waterside land, including the old Nunn Mills Power Station and a derelict factory owned by Avon Cosmetics.
