A report on the issue will come before the council’s cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday.
It states that an ‘urgent leader decision’ was made on March 14 – which sought to approve the ‘provisionally agreed’ terms for the ‘disposal’ of 3.56 hectares of land at Marshalls Cross Road to Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and to authorize the head of legal and democratic services to ‘prepare and execute’ the necessary legal documentation pursuant to the disposal of land in accordance with terms set out in the report.
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The report says: “While the aspiration has been to bring forward a residential proposition on this site it is likely that development viability would be compromised by the underlying ground conditions.
“Continuing with this approach would risk losing the offer from The Trust given their ‘window of opportunity’ to acquire the site.”
The cabinet is recommended to ‘note the urgent leader decision taken by the leader of the council’ on March 14.
An additional document on the decision has also been published, alongside the report to the cabinet.
In relation to the ‘reasons for urgency’, it said the proposed sale is subject to a ‘time limited’ allocation of funding which requires completion of the purchase before the end of the financial year, March 31.
It added: “The next cabinet meeting is scheduled for April 24, 2024. Accordingly, if the council’s normal decision-making processes were complied with there would be serious prejudicing to the council’s and the public’s interests.”
Furthermore, in the document, it said the ‘proposed disposal will assist in bringing forward plans to expand and enhance health facilities’ at St Helens Hospital which will directly benefit residents of the borough.
