A council has taken ownership of a derelict Victorian hospital via a ‘general vesting declaration’, five years after a dispute about the site’s future got under way.
BBC News reports:
Denbighshire County Council began its bid to purchase Denbigh’s sprawling North Wales Hospital in 2013.
The hospital site has been the scene of numerous fires and acts of vandalism since it closed in 1995.
A statement from the county council said: An historic milestone has been reached.
It said 28 days had passed without appeal since it served notice on owners Freemont (Denbigh) Ltd, so the council was now the new owner….
… In 2011, Denbighshire council carried out £1m of emergency safety work, then two years later the authority voted to initiate a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the hospital and a High Court appeal by Freemont failed.
Later that year the order was rubber-stamped by the Welsh Government.
On Friday, the council said the takeover process had finally been completed after it issued the former owners with a ‘general vesting declaration’ which was unchallenged, giving the authority site ownership.
