ST Helens Council has completed the sale of a piece of land to Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

As previously reported, an “urgent” decision was made in March by the then-council leader over the sale of land.

A report on the issue came before the council’s cabinet at its meeting in April.

It stated 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 authorise the head of legal and democratic services to “prepare and execute” the necessary legal documentation pursuant to disposal of land in accordance with terms set out in the report.

The report said: “Whilst 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.

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“Continuing with this approach would risk losing the offer from The Trust given their ‘window of opportunity’ to acquire the site.”

At its meeting in April, as recommended, the cabinet noted the “urgent leader decision” taken by the leader of the council on March 14.

An additional document on the decision was also published, alongside the report to 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.

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.

The council has confirmed that it has completed the sale of the land to Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Asked how much it sold the land for, the council spokesman said this is “available via Land Registry”.

Asked what the money will be used for, the spokesman said: “Individual capital receipts are ringfenced only by exception under specific circumstance and must be agreed by council.

“In this case, there is no single scheme that this receipt has been ringfenced for and the receipt will form part of the overall funding of the council’s capital strategy.”