A COUNCIL has pledged up to £1m to buy eyesore sites in a bid to stop them from blighting the town.
Middlesbrough Council said last year it was targeting the owners of the sites in a bid to sort them out.
The funding means the council will be able to buy the properties if the owners are willing to sell.
Read more: Criminal gang flooded region with £1m worth of drugs
Mayor Andy Preston said: “There are too many derelict plots of land blighting communities and bringing Middlesbrough down. Where we can we will intelligently buy up these sites snd improve them.”
The council published a list of 11 "eyesore" sites last year, some of which might be bought by the council with this new funding.
The list included 56 Cargo Fleet Lane/ Bournemouth Avenue, the former Wee Willie, Evesham Road, Park End, the former Middlehaven Pub (The Ship Inn), Stockton Street and the former Methodist Church, Kings Road, North Ormesby.
Other additions were the former Quoit Club, Addington Drive, Marton Country Club, Newcastle House, Ingram Road, The Crown and Mitre, North Ormesby, Douglas House, Marton Road, Liberty’s, Longlands Road and the former Roseberry Petrol Station, Acklam Road
However, since the list was released last year some now have new uses or are being developed.
Another planning application has been submitted for a convenience store at Newcastle House site after the first one failed and modern apartments have been built at The Crown and Mitre.
In February 2021, a successful planning application was submitted to transform the former Liberty’s nightclub into four industrial units.
The council have previously announced plans to turn the former Quoit Club on Addington Drive into modern, affordable housing and it has said that planning permission is in place for apartments on the site at the junction of Cargo Fleet Lane and Bournemouth Avenue.
A further site that has been raised by the mayor, councillors and residents since this list was published is the Park End pub, on Penistone Road, which has been left to deteriorate for around three years.
Potential sites will need to have a business case drawn up and be approved by the directors of regeneration and culture and finance. The owner will then be contacted to try and voluntarily acquire the site but if that’s not possible then the council may consider compulsory purchase powers.
Speaking at a council meeting on Wednesday, Middlesbrough council’s director of regeneration, Richard Horniman, said: “There were various sites across the town that were causing a potential problem for residents living nearby.
“It’s blights on particular areas, so we said that we would take action to try and try and do something about them by putting the pressure on the owners of those sites and potentially, if we had to, going all the way through a compulsory purchase order.What we didn’t do at the time was allocate any money to actually buy those sites so it was all about forcing the owners to do something.”
However, this new pot of money means that the council can buy up problem sites if the owners will sell.
Mr Horniman added: “This report today is going to allocate £1m to back up that action to some sites, where we know the owners aren’t going to do anything but they are prepared to sell.
“We almost didn’t have an option to do that then whereas this money will now allow us to pick up some of those sites bring them into council ownership and then either sell them on to somebody who will do something with them or clear them, put whatever remediation in that is required, potentially develop some, it will depend on the sites.
“So this report is purely about allocating £1m of the council’s capital budget to allow us to do that extra step in the process of picking up some of those sites.”
The executive member for regeneration, Cllr Eric Polano, is keen to see these sites developed, he added: “I think it’s a wonderful idea. Richard and I have been working on it to try and get the town to remove some of the eyesores.
“It’s a tough old town, I was brought up in it, and some of the buildings have been left to go to sea by unscrupulous developers. I was sad to see it but it’s a good idea.”
Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
You can also follow our dedicated Teesside Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.
For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.
Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here