A 14-YEAR dream of sorting out the eyesore of land at the Co-op in Studley could be on the verge of taking a step nearer reality.
On January 15, 2018 the cabinet of Stratford District Council is to discuss the possibility of using a compulsory purchase order to buy the land.
If approved it could see the authority finally prise the Priory Square site out of the hands of the Co-op, achieving a long term goal of District Councillor Hazel Wright (Lib Dem, Studley & Sambourne).
“This is an enormous step forward,” she said.
“Compulsory purchase is the only way on that site as it is not viable for any sort of development. Time and time again developers have said they cannot make it pay.”
The land in question sits right at the entrance to the village and extends up the High Street and along Marble Alley.
Surrounded by boarding, the full mess of the square was revealed after high winds hit the UK earlier this year, flattening the screens that had hidden it.
Attempts to buy the land have in the past stalled as the asking price from the Co-op – at one point £1million – was simply too much.
Then back in October Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership withdrew £200,000 in seed money granted to try and create a business/residential development on the site.
However the land, the former location of a needle factory which burned down in the late 1970s, is reportedly heavily contaminated and would be expensive to clear.
At Tuesday’s meeting parish chairman Coun Paul Beaman agreed to accompany Coun Wright to plead the case for Studley at Cabinet.
