The Joy Oil gas station in the NatWest area of Birmingham has been a struggle for the city council over the years. The building is a council conservation zone and the site is listed Grade II*. A justice of the peace signed a directorship to save the building in October 2012, but it has been a struggle for the council since then. It was up for sale last year, but it has sat on the market since.
How long has the gas station been in the administration’s hands?
Just over a year – January 2015 to November 2015.
Why haven’t they gone ahead with the sale?
The borough council submitted a bid in the late summer of 2015 for a residential development of the gas station site. It contained 3 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms, but the bidding process stalled after the unnamed bidder was found to have committed fraud in another project and never submitted an application. The borough council resigned the site for redevelopment in the meantime, but it is not clear what the future of the gas station now holds.
Could it still be sold?
It might have to be sold, but it is in a conservation zone so it cannot be sold without the consent of the council. The gas station is currently on a compulsory purchase order, so it is not technically “saleable” but it can be exchanged for a valuable site with the consent of the owner. If the council does not want to sell, it can still apply to Westminster council to compulsorily purchase it.
How long has the gas station been on the compulsory purchase order?
It has been since September 2014.
How much is it worth?
It’s not clear.
How do we know about it?
An unnamed source has offered details about the gas station’s value, though it is unclear how this information is available to the public.
*Over 40,000 government-approved development applications to tear down buildings and replace them with houses, large and small, have been approved in Greater Birmingham since 2010, including such landmarks as the University of Birmingham’s School of Civil Engineering building, and the Maryham Hall Memorial Tower on the Birmingham Botanical Gardens campus