A property developer at the centre of a Stoke-on-Trent ‘levelling up’ project has issued reassurances after it appeared that the company was on the verge of being forcibly dissolved – but said that revisions were being made to the prominent scheme.
Crown Works in Longton was expected to be developed by Preston-based OVI Homes Limited in a project anticipated to cost a total of £9.4million, with £6.5million coming from Stoke-on-Trent’s Levelling Up funding.
However, Companies House published its first Gazette notice for the compulsory strike-off of OVI Homes Ltd on Tuesday, December 10. According to Gov.uk, compulsory strike-off action can be started if ‘there’s reasonable cause to believe [a company] is no longer carrying on business or in operation’.
But chairman David Taylor CBE told Daily Focus that a proposal to strike off OVI Homes Ltd from the Companies House register was ‘a very minor technical issue’ which would be resolved in the New Year. He said the notice for compulsory strike-off had been published as one of the three company directors was abroad on business and had been unable to sign the company’s accounts.
Mr Taylor stated that ‘even if’ OVI Homes Ltd was struck off the Companies House register, it would ‘not affect the Crown Works project because the grant agreement is with OVI Stoke Crown Works Ltd’ – a separate company which is also part of OVI Group Ltd.
OVI Stoke Crown Works Ltd was formerly known as OVI Homes (Sunderland) Ltd from August 2019 to July 2021.
All previous publicity about the development from Stoke-on-Trent City Council and reports in the media have referred to OVI Homes Ltd being behind the scheme.
Planning permission for 58 one- and two-bedroom apartments for the over 55s, including a communal lounge and landscaped courtyard, was granted by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in June 2023. Work was expected to begin soon after, with local employment, apprenticeships and work placement opportunities set to be available throughout the build.
But the project stalled and the prominent site at the gateway to Longton town centre, which housed John Tams Ltd until its closure in 2006, has remained behind hoardings.
Mr Taylor said there had been ‘very little market demand’ for the approved over 55s scheme and as a result they would be submitting a revised application for a ‘build to rent scheme still targeting older groups’ in January or February.
He added that the company was involved in three further projects in Longton which would ‘result in 500 residential units’, including a development at the Phoenix Works, where he said they also intend to open offices.
The city was awarded £56million of Levelling Up funding in 2021 for three redevelopment schemes across Stoke-on-Trent – the Goods Yard in Stoke (allocated £16million), Etruscan Square in Hanley (£20million) and the Heritage Towns Project involving Stoke’s Spode site (£10million), Longton’s Crown Works (£6.5million) and the former Tunstall library and baths (£3.5million).
Of these, only the Goods Yard has come to fruition, with Etruscan Square and Spode Works back on the drawing board after the original plans were shelved, no planning application yet submitted for Tunstall library and baths, and delays to the Crown Works site.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – formerly the Department for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities (DHLUC) – expected all the funding awarded in the first round of Levelling Up to be spent by March 2025, or by 2025/26 on an ‘exceptional basis’.
Compulsory strike-off action can be taken by Companies House due to a business’s failure to meet its statutory obligations. Companies that do not file their annual accounts or confirmation statement will normally receive two letters from Companies House, and a notice is then published in the Gazette to tell the public that the registrar intends to strike off the company.
If there are no objections to dissolution, the company will be struck off shortly after the two-month period from the publication of the Gazette notice has expired. When Companies House dissolves a business, its assets and cash become the property of the Crown.
A spokesperson from Stoke-on-Trent City Council said: “The council continues to work with Ovi Homes with the intention of regenerating the Crown Works as an important gateway site into Longton.”
