Council gets tough on Priory Square

A tough line has been laid down by Stratford District Council concerning Studley’s troubled Priory Square site in the latest attempt to put pressure on the landowner.

The council has been working with the Co-Op, which owns the site, to improve the land for more than a decade, but to no success.

Within the authority’s recently agreed budget, £50,000 has been set aside to prepare a compulsory purchase order for the site with councillors growing frustrated with the lack of progress being made with the Co-Op.

Last week councillors have held positive meetings with the Co-Op about Priory Square, but are wary having received reassurances over the site before.

In light of this the council have imposed a series of deadlines on the Co-Op concerning the site’s redevelopment, warning that if any are not met it will not hesitate to begin preparing its case for compulsory purchase.

The final deadline imposed on the Co-Op is for the company to have sold the site by November this year.

Cllr Peter Richards, Housing and Infrastructure Portfolio says: “The regeneration of the Studley Co-op site has been a priority to the District Council over a number of years. For reasons outside this Council’s control, the redevelopment of the land has been delayed.

“The decision made today, once again moves the project in a positive direction. The recent changes at the Co-op seem to have given a renewed impetus from their side and there appears to be an emerging path to a long-term solution.

“Alongside these actions, The Cabinet has also included £50,000 in next year’s budget to enable preparation for a Compulsory Purchase Order of the site, should there be further delays.”