Councillor Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     The report sought formal approval for the final land requirements for The George Scheme which would enable the Council to progress with the necessary compulsory purchase order (CPO) and side road order to complete the project;

b)    The funding for the scheme was already in place;

c)     The goal was to reach an agreement with affected land owners through negotiation;

d)    The CPO was a last resort;

e)     The scheme would have a direct impact on a number of residents;

f)      Plymouth City Council had received representations from land owners opposing the CPO which had been distributed to Cabinet;

g)     After reviewing the scheme and producing further design work, four properties previously affected by the scheme had been removed and the amount of permanent land required for the scheme had been reduced by a further 21 properties;

h)    The decision Cabinet would come to in this meeting would be carefully considered to ensure that the Council were satisfied that the benefits of the scheme outweighed the interference of the land owned by third parties, and therefore justified the CPO to proceed;

i)      The benefits to the scheme included:

i) Transport improvements which would make a different to everyone who relied on the route, including local businesses, bus passengers, pedestrians and cyclists;

ii) More than 30,000 vehicles used Tavistock Road every day and it was regarded as a pinch point in the network; the scheme would help improve this;

iii) Journey times for buses and general traffic would be improved which would help improve bus service reliability;

iv) Pavements and cycle paths would be new and improved which would ensure the public considered alternative active and sustainable transport options;

j)      The scheme was a critical part of the programme to provide better links to and from the north of Plymouth as it grew and would complement the Derriford Hospital Interchange, the Derriford Hospital Transport Scheme and the Forder Valley Link Road;

k)     The scheme was part of the Council’s adapted Statutory Planning Framework for the city;

l)      The Joint Local Plan (JLP) identified the Northern Corridor as one of the three priority growth areas due to it’s potential to deliver a regionally significant number of new jobs and homes;

m)   The scheme would provide part of the critical infrastructure needed to deliver the new homes that had been identified for the Derriford and Northern Corridor growth area, around 2000 of which would be part of the Woolwell Urban Extension;

n)    The JLP delivering growth in Derriford and the Northern Corridor specifically supported the provision of the transport infrastructure and the scheme directly supported a number of other JLP policies.

Sally Farley (Strategic Transport Manager) added:

o)    The fourth recommendation delegated powers to Paul Barnard (Service Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure) the ability to negotiate and make minor amendments;

p)    The scheme had worked to ‘design out’ four land plots, altogether reducing land plots as a value for money exercise.

Cabinet agreed to the following recommendations:

1.     To authorise the making of a compulsory purchase order to be known as The City of Plymouth (A386 Tavistock Road) Compulsory Purchase Order 2024 (CPO) under sections 239, 240, 246, 250 and 260 of the Highways Act 1980 and the Acquisition of Land At 1981 to secure the compulsory acquisition of the land shown within the red boundary on the CPO Resolution Area plan and shown on the plot plans shaded blue and the new rights over the land shown hatched blue at Appendix E of the report;

2.     To authorise the making of a side roads order to be known as The City of Plymouth (A386 Tavistock Road) (Side Roads) Order 2024 (SRO) under sections 14 and 125 of the Highways Act 1980 to construct new highways and public rights of ways, stop up, divert, improve or otherwise deal with a highway including public rights of ways and the closure and creation of private means of access as shown in the SRO Maps at Appendix F to the report;

3.     To note, and have due regard to determining whether or not to authorise the making of the Orders, the public sector equality duty contained in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998, as detailed further in section 2.4 of eh report;

4.     That the Service Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure be authorised in consultation with the Head of Legal Services to:

i) Finalise and make, if necessary, any minor or technical amendments, modifications and deletions to the CPO Maps and SRO Maps should this be considered appropriate;

ii) Agree the precise scope of rights to be acquired over properties that surround the Order Land;

iii) Finalise the CPO and SRO (collectively referred to as The Orders), and the Statement of Reasons;

iv) To take all necessary steps to make (including any associated or ancillary applications to the Secretary of State under the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 publish, and obtain confirmation of the Orders including (but not limited to) the publication and service of all statutory notices and presentation of the Council’s case at any Public Inquiry or through written representations, to secure the confirmation of the Orders (with or without modifications) by the Secretary of State for Transport and implement the Orders associated with the Scheme;?

v) Continue, in accordance with the Cabinet authority dated 9 November 2021, discussions and negotiations with landowners and stakeholders with a view to reaching voluntary agreements with landowners and to purchase and/or reserve land and rights by agreement for the scheme;? 

vi) Negotiate, agree terms and enter into agreements with affected parties including agreements for the withdrawal of blight notices and/or the withdrawal of objections to the Orders and/or undertakings not to enforce the Orders on specified terms, including (but not limited to) where appropriate seeking exclusion of land from the Orders, making provision for the payment of compensation and/or relocation;? 

vii) In the event the Orders are confirmed by the Secretary of State or an Inspector in the case of delegation, to advertise and give notice of confirmation and thereafter to take all steps to implement the Orders including, as applicable to execute general vesting declarations and/or to serve notices to treat and notices of entry in respect of interests and rights in the Order Land; and

viii) Take all steps in relation to any legal proceedings relating to the Orders including defending or settling claims referred to the Upper Tribunal and/or applications to the courts and any appeals.

5.     To allocate an additional £3,916,433 into the capital programme for the scheme funded by the identified £1,957,433 Section 105 contributions and £1,959,000 Integrated Transport Block grant and remove £755,000 Capital receipts previously anticipated.